Pastoral theology; a treatise on the office and duties of the Christian pastor

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1

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PASTORAL THEOLOGY.

•••"';.«■ ■

PASTORAL THEOLOGY:

A TREATISE

ON THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF THE CHRISTUN PASTOR.

BV THE LATE

PATRICK FAIRBAIRN, D.D..

PRINCIPAI. OF THB FRBE CHURCH COLLBGB, GLASGOW; AUTHOR OF 'TYPOLOGY OP
SCKIPTURB,' 'COMMENTARY ON THB PASTORAL BPISTLBS,' ETC BTC.

ItSittli a iSt0pa|H[|tcal SUkttdf at ^t ^ui^tn b^
REV. JAMES DODDS,

DUNBAR.

EDINBURGH:
T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET.

1875.

-;

./

' /

/ ^ /

^%,(s^''^-

PREFACE.

THE lamented Author of this treatise lived to prepare
it for the press. It seems to have been originally
written in its present form, though it was repeatedly delivered
to his class as a course of lectures. There can also be little
doubt that it was intended to be a sequel or companion
volume to his recently published work on the Pastoral
Epistles. As such it may safely be accepted by the public ;
for the sound judgment, lofty aim, and evangelical spirit
that characterize the work on the Epistles will not be found
wanting in the present performance. Though probably not
free from the defects almost inseparable from posthumous
publications, the following pages will, it is hoped, amply
sustain the high character of Principal Fairbaim as a
theological professor. They relate to a subject which in
these days is of growing importance, and which has by no
means been exhausted, though several good practical works
connected with it have of late made their appearance.

Principal Fairbaim left instructions that no extended
memoir of him should be published by any of his friends.
Accordingly, nothing of the kind has been attempted; but as

VI PREFACE.

he also indicated that he had no objection to a brief record
of the leading events of his life being given to the public,
it has been thought advisable by his trustees that such a
summary should be prefixed to this work. A succinct Bio-
graphical Sketch has therefore been prepared by one who
knew him long and well, who was among the first to
become acquainted with his high merits as an author, and
who always regarded with admiration his noble Christian
character.

CONTENTS.

Biographical Sketch, ..... ^^^^

CHAPTER I.

Introductory. — The Relation op the Pastoral Office
TO THE Church, and the Connection between Right
Views of the one and a Proper Estimate of the
other, ....... I

CHAPTER II.

The Nature of the Pastoral Office, and the Call to

enter on its Functions, . . . .39

CHAPTER III.
The Pastoral and Social Life of the Pastor, . 79

CHAPTER IV.
The more Special Duties of the Pastoral Office, 120

Vlll CONTENTS.

CHAPTER V.

PAGB

DiFFBRENT KiNDS OF DISCOURSES, .... 239

CHAPTER VI.

Supplementary Methods of Instruction. Personal In-
tercourse. Dealings WITH Special Cases. Pastoral ;')*'^
Visitations. Catechetical Instruction. Visitation
OF THE Sick, the Afflicted, and Dying, . . 271

CHAPTER VII.
Public Prayer and other Devotional Services, . . 307

CHAPTER VIII.
The Administration of Discipline, . 326

CHAPTER IX.
Subsidiary Means and Agencies, .... 346

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

Patrick Fairbairn was bom at Hallyburton, in the parish
of Greenlaw, Berwickshire, on the 28th January 1805. He
was the second son of a family of five children. The eldest
of the family, a brother, predeceased him ; the three younger
members, two brothers and a sister, still survive. His
father, a respectable farmer, was able to give all his children
a good education, and ,to educate two of them for the
Christian ministry, namely, the subject of this sketch, and
John, the third of the family, now minister of the Free
Church at Greenlaw.

Patrick, considered from his earHest years a highly pro-
mising boy, was sent to various schools in the district with
a view to his being prepared for the University. None of
these schools were of a superior kind ; yet he profited to such
an extent by the tuition they furnished, that he proceeded
to the University of Edinburgh in November 1818, before
he had completed his fourteenth year. Like many Scottish
youths of that period, he commenced his college studies
much too early, and had in subsequent years to work doubly
hard in order to make up for the deficiencies of his pre-
liminary education. He attended the classes of Professors

X BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

Pillans, Dunbar, Wilson, Wallace, Dr. Ritchie, and Sir John
Leslie. He was noted as a diligent and well-conducted
student ; but he seems to have made no very brilliant or
distinguished figure in any leading branch of academic
study. His mind was of that order which comes to maturity
rather slowly ; and he aimed at solid progress rather than
showy distinction.

Early in his college career he resolved to study for the
Christian ministry. In this matter he was greatly influenced
by his mother, who was a woman of fervent piety and great
Christian worth. All her children owed much to her pru-
dent and prayerful training ; but Patrick seems to have been
specially benefited by her influence and example. On the
occasion of her death in 1861, her distinguished son thus
wrote of her : * I doubt if I should ever have thought of
giving myself to the ministry, had it not been for the early
bent my mind received from her spirit and instructions.
While I live I cannot but cherish her memory with affection
and regard ; and I shall rest in the hope of meeting her in
another and better state of existence.'

The young student never prized highly the advantages
presented by the classes at the University as they were con-
ducted in his time. With one or two exceptions, the pro-
fessors in the Arts Course were not successful teachers ; and
few students ever thought of taking a degree. Wilson was
a brilliant lecturer, but he never attempted any systematic
instruction in Moral Philosophy. Wallace and Leslie were
profound mathematicians, but failed in carrying their
students along with them in the demonstrations of the
class-room. Patrick Fairbaim never ceased to lament the
imperfect training he received at college. The great im-

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. XI

provements that have of late been eflfected in the Edinbuigh
University system were not even projected in his early
academic days.

When he entered the Divinity Hall, he found matters
worse than they were in the Faculty of Arts. Dr. William
Ritchie, an old and infirm man, who had never been very
efiicient, was Professor of Systematic Divinity ; Dr. Brunton
was Professor of Hebrew ; and Dr. Meiklejohn of Church
History. There was nothing in the Hall to stimulate or
reward the exertions of the students. Dulness and routine
prevailed in all the classes ; there was in none of them much
evangelical life or theological enthusiasm. Several able
young men were fellow-students with Patrick Fairbaim,
and like him afterwards made a distinguished figure in
the Chiurch ; but they owed little of their learning to the
instructions of the theological professors. It was not till
Dr. Chalmers had been appointed to the Chair of Syste-
matic Theology, and Dr. Welsh to the Chair of Church
History, that the Edinburgh Divinity Hall acquired a
character worthy of the famous University to which it
belongs.

It must here be mentioned that the young Berwickshire
student received much assistance in the course of his
philosophical studies firom a Mr. Hay, a small merchant in
the quiet little town of Gordon, near Greenlaw. This Mr.
Hay belonged to a class of men who were, perhaps, once
more numerous in Scotland than they are now, — men who,
though moving in a humble station, and possessed of limited
means, yet contrived to cultivate literature and philosophy
in a remarkable manner, and to gather all sorts of informa-
tion from such miscellaneous collections of books as they

Xll BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

were able to purchase or borrow. This Gordon philosopher
delighted to impart to superior young men the various
knowledge he had accumulated, and to kindle in their
minds that genuine love of moral and metaphysical specu-
lation with which he was himself inspired.

During a considerable period of his University career, Mr.
Fairbaim attended the ministry of Dr. Robert Gordon, then
held in the highest repute as a powerful evangelical preacher.
The high intellect of Dr. Gordon, joined to his solemn
and impressive pulpit oratory, peculiarly attracted the better
class of theological students, and indeed many leading pro-
fessional men in Edinburgh, His influence in recommend-
ing the gospel to the more cultivated classes of society was
very great ; and down to the close of his life he was, as
a highly intellectual yet truly spiritual preacher, almost un-
rivalled. It is well known that the late Principal Cunning-
ham Was profoundly influenced in early life by one of Dr.
Gordon's printed sermons, and that ever afterwards he re-
garded him with special affection. Patrick Fairbaim must
also be set down as one of those young men of high pro-
mise who received great benefit, at a critical period of life,
from Dr. Gordon's powerful ministrations. There was
another excellent Edinburgh minister to whom the youthful
student was introduced in his college days, and to whom
he became united by the ties of the closest friendship.
This was the late Dr. James Henderson of Free St. Enoch's
Church, Glasgow, who in the early part of his life was
minister of Stockbridge Chapel of Ease, Edinburgh. After
living on terms of cordial intimacy for half a century, the two
friends were but a short while separated by death, Dr. Hender-
son surviving Principal Fairbaim little more than a month.

^ T^

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. XIU

Always an exemplary and laborious student, Mr. Fairbaim
before leaving the Hall attracted the special attention of Dr.
Brunton, who procured for him the situation of tutor in the
family of his brother-in-law, Captain Balfour, a large Orkney
proprietor. He went to Orkney in 1827 ; and by the way
in which he performed his duties, he so commended him-
self to Captain Balfour, that through the interest of that
gentleman he was appointed by the Crown in 1830 to the
Parliamentary Parish of North Ronaldshay. He had been
licensed to preach the gospel by the Presbytery of Dunse,
on the 3d October 1826.

North Ronaldshay is the most northerly of the Orkney
Islands, and is of no great size or importance. The inha-
bitants were addicted to some strange and semi-barbarous
customs when Mr. Fairbaim entered upon his charge.
Many of them had the repute of being * wreckers ; ' and the
morality of the island was by no means high. They had
not been accustomed to an evangelical ministry, or any of
the best influences of the gospel Indeed, during the last
and the earlier part of the present century, the ministers of
the Established Church in Orkney were, as a class, by no
means distinguished for sound doctrine or Christian prac-
tice. Not a few of them had actually done much to bring
the ministry into contempt by unbecoming conduct But
when Mr. Fairbaim commenced his pastoral duties he im-
mediately took high ground, and both as a preacher and
as a pastor he strenuously endeavoured to instmct and
reform his parishioners. The good fruits of his feithful
ministry were soon manifested in the improved character
and habits of the islanders. The improvement effected
by the young minister was so marked, that it attracted the

XIV BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

attention of all who visited, or were specially interested in,
North Ronaldshay.

It may be truly said, that the studies which laid the
foundation of Mr. Fairbaim's theological eminence began
only after he had left the Divinity Hall. About the time
when he was licensed as a preacher, or looked forward to
ordination as a minister in Orkney, he formed a regular
plan of professional study of no slight or superficial cha-
racter, but solid, laborious, and systematic ; and that plan
he carried out with unflinching perseverance. He deter-
mined to make himself thoroughly master of the Hebrew
and German languages, in order more effectually to equip
himself as a scientific theologian; and having become in
good time an excellent Hebrew and German scholar, he
entered on a course of theological reading and inquiry
which led to important results. When he was about to be
ordained at North Ronaldshay, where some of his friends
thought he was in danger of being buried, his brother asked
him how long he would like to remain in Orkney. ' Just
six years,' he instantly and decidedly replied ; for, on full
consideration, he had calculated on such a period for the
completion of the studies he had projected for himself in
his remote island home. And it so happened that, after he
had spent about six years at North Ronaldshay, he was ap-
pointed minister of the new * Extension' Church of Bridgeton,
in the city of Glasgow.

In 1833 ^^ was married to Miss Margaret Pitcaim, sister
of the late Rev. Thomas Pitcaim, minister of Cockpen, who
became first clerk of the Free Church General Assembly,
Another brother of that lady, the Rev. David Pitcaim, at
one time a minister in Orkney, went to the south of Eng-

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH, XV

land and attained some eminence as a Christian author.
Of several children, the fruit of this marriage, only one grew
up, John Fairbaim, who, after spending some years in the
Island of Java, ultimately settled in Australia, where he died
only a few days after hearing of the death of his father.
Mrs. Fairbaim died in childbirth, at Glasgow, soon after
she and her husband had reached their new sphere of use-
fulness. Her infant, and another child, a fine boy of about
three years of age, only a few weeks after her death followed
her to the grave.

After faithfully performing the laborious duties of his
Glasgow charge for about three years, Mr. Fairbaim was
translated to the parish of Salton, East Lothian, which had
been rendered vacant by the appointment of the Rev.
Robert Hamilton to the Presbyterian chaplaincy at Madras.
The predecessor of Mr. Hamilton in Salton had been the
Rev. Robert Buchanan, now of the College Free Church,
Glasgow, a churchman of the highest eminence in Scotland,
and a man who for nearly forty years was the tmsting
and tmsted fiiend of Patrick Fairbaim. Salton is also
noted as having been for some years under the pastoral
care of Gilbert Bumet, afterwards Bishop of Salisbury.
That eminent dignitary left a considerable sum of money
to found and support a library for the use of his successors
in that Scottish parish, and for the education of a number
of children of poor parishioners. Mr. Fairbairn took
special delight in putting the Bishop's library into good
working order, and probably derived more benefit from it
than any of his predecessors. While he carefully prepared
his pulpit discourses, and diligently discharged the numerous
duties of a country minister, he was always a laborious

XVI ' BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

Student, avaricious of time, and delighting in intellectual
toiL He had already translated some works from the
German, for the well-known publishers Messrs. Clark of
Edinburgh, and was by this time meditating that original
work Which was destined to give him a high place in British
theological literature.

Having from the very commencement of his ministry
belonged to the * Evangelical Party' in the Church of Scot-
land, Mr. Fairbaim manfully supported his views in the
Church courts, though he did not aspire to the position of
an ecclesiastical leader. At the Disruption of 1843 ^^ ^^id
no hesitation in joining the Free Church, and indeed was
die first of his brethren in the Presbytery to leave his
manse and fece the hardships of the trying time. He
found shelter for himself and his family, first in the neigh-
bouring parish of Bolton, and afterwards in the town of
Haddington ; but in spite of distance from his people he
visited them regularly, and fulfilled every duty of a diligent
pastor, while he still carried on his loved theological studies.
Of the Presbytery of Haddington, to which he belonged,
nine out of sixteen ministers had joinfed the Free Church ;
and he took a leading part in helping to form the new Free
Church Presbytery, and generally to advance the interests •
of religion in the district But at that period of sharp
contention between rival Churches he showed no unworthy
bitterness of spirit With the late Dr. Cook of Haddington
and some other of his former co-presbyters he continued on
terms of friendship, though he differed widely from them
on certain points of theory and practice.

In 1845 ^^ published, in one thick duodecimo volume,
his Typology of Scripture^ a work which had occupied a

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. XVU

great part of his leisure for a number of years. It was
subsequently published in two volumes, and reached some
time ago a fifth edition. In its enlarged and improved form
it is as free from imperfections as any work of the kind can
well be, and it is now universally regarded as a standard
theological treatise. The subject of the Old Testament
types had never before been handled in a philosophical
and satisfactory manner by any British or American theo-
logian. It was reserved for the Free Church minister of
Salton to produce a work upon it which, for critical insight,
grasp of principle, and solid though unostentatious learning,
was not surpassed, if even equalled, by any similar theo-
logical performance of the day. It is unnecessary to dwell
upon the merits of a work so well known and so highly
prized as the Typology of Scripture. It is one of those
fresh and valuable contributions to our modem theological
literature which is sure to keep its ground, and to be always
in great request among students of theology. The writer
of this sketch well remembers visiting, soon after its publica-
tion, Trinity College, Dublin, and seeing on the library
table a copy of it, well worn, and apparently in high favour
with the students. He could not help remarking, that while
the richly-endowed Fellows of the College had done nothing
of importance on the field of theology, there was at least
one sterling theological work produced by a disendowed
Presbyterian minister which they had the discernment to
value and to introduce into their library.

In 1846, Messrs. Clark of Edinburgh published the first
volume of an English translation of Hengstenberg's Com-
mentary on the Psalms. Two other volumes subsequently

appeared, completing the work. The translators were Mr.

b

XVIU BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

Fairbaim and the Rev. John Thomson, an accomplished
German scholar, now minister of St Ninian's Free Church,
Leith. Mr. Fairbaim had previously, when in North
Ronaldshay, translated for the Biblical Cabinet^ a foreign
theological series published by the same eminent firm,
Steiger on isi FeteTy and Lisco on the Parables, His know-
ledge of German, thus early and well exercised, was un-
doubtedly of good service to him as an earnest theological
student It introduced him to a vast and varied field of
theology which must be traversed by every one in these
days who would truly earn the name of theologian. But
while he prized the excellences, he was well aware of the
defects and dangers, of German theology, even of that large
section of it which cannot fairly be called Rationalistic.
Few of his countrymen have equalled him in making good
use of German learning and its solid results, while rejecting
what is inconsistent with sound doctrine or that reverence
which is due to the word of God. In his Typology^ and in
most of his other publications, we find an excellent com-
bination of German erudition with Scottish orthodoxy.

Towards the latter end of 1847, Mr. Fairbaim was in-
vited to London to deliver a course of theological lectures
in the newly instituted College of the English Presbyterian
Church. On that occasion he first displayed his peculiar
qualification for a theological chair, and may be said to
have commenced his professorial career. His services were
highly appreciated by the professors and students of the
new College, and he always looked back with pleasxire to
this episode in his life. Professor Lorimer, and several
of the ministers of the English Presbyterian Church who
attended his lectures, speak at this day in the warmest

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. XIX

terms of his learning and ability. They also testify to the
great respect which they entertained for him, and the ex-
pectations they formed of his future eminence.

In 185 1 he published, in one volume, his work entitled
Ezekidy and the Book of his Prophecy. This performance,
in popularity, perhaps also in freshness and originality,
ranks next to his Typology. In it the most difficult subjects
are discussed with great ability and judgment The
principles of interpretation applied by the author in his
exposition of the obscurest of the prophets commend them-
selves to the understanding of sober and philosophical
critics. We do not know if a sounder and more profitable
book on Ezekiel has been published in our times, and it is
likely to keep its place in our modem theological literature.

In the course of 185 1 and 1852, Messrs. Clark published
in two successive volumes, Hengstenberg's Commentary on
the Revelation of St. John, translated by Mr. Fairbaim. The
work of translation in this instance was peculiarly delicate,
the translator in some important matters not agreeing with
his author ; but the difficulties of the task were well sur-
mounted, and a most important contribution to Apocalyptic
literature was made accessible to the English public. It
may also here be mentioned, that shortly before this time
Mr. Fairbaim had published an interesting little work on
the Book of Jonah, in which he took a more favourable
than the common view of that prophet's character. Any
complete Ust of his works would likewise include various
lectures, pamphlets, and contributions to magazines, which
proceeded from his pen chiefly about this period. A
pamphlet on the real opinions of the leading Reformers
about the obligation of the Sabbath was published by him,

XX BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

SO early as 1842, at the request of some of his brethren who
took a special interest in the subject. It was admitted to
be a very valuable contribution to the right discussion of
the Sabbath question ; but it has long been out of print

In the autumn of 1852, Mr. Fairbaim was appointed
assistant to Dr. Maclagan, Professor of Divinity in the
Free Church College, Aberdeen. In December, only a
month after he had commenced his work in the college, he
met with the severest possible domestic bereavement His
second wife, Mary Playfair, whom he had married before
leaving Glasgow, was seized with fever at Salton a few days
after giving birth to a daughter, her fourth child. On
hearing of her dangerous illness he hastened home from
Aberdeen ; but he had only the sad satisfaction of being with
his excellent partner during her last days on earth. Having
committed to the grave her mortal remains, he made the
requisite arrangements for the proper care of his motherless
children, and returned to his post His duties, notwith-
standing this heavy trial, were discharged during the whole
session with signal energy and success. His great sorrow,
through the grace of God, had only the effect of deepening
his sense of responsibility in the performance of the im-
portant work committed to his hand. By the General
Assembly of the following year he was appointed Professor
at Aberdeen in room of Dr. Maclagan, who had died before
his assistant entered on his duties. He always spoke in the
warmest terms of the happiness he enjoyed at Aberdeen,
notwithstanding his great bereavement and severe labours.
The remarkable kindness shown him by numerous friends
in that city made a pleasing and deep impression on his
memory.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. XXI

In the summer of 1853, Professor Fairbairn visited the
Continent in company with his friend John Elliot Wilson,
Esq., Cranbrook, Kent Mr. Wilson and he had become
acquainted in 1845, through means of a correspondence in
regard to some theological point touched on in ^^. Typology.
A correspondence, originating in the desire of the English
gentleman to have some difficulties cleared up, led to a warm
and lasting friendship between him and the Scottish theo-
logian. It was some time before the two correspondents
met ; but their meeting only increased the strong affection
which they had learned to cherish for each other. Mr.
Wilson's admiration of the character and works of his friend
was very great; and Professor Fairbairn, in his turn, learned
to regard his English admirer with something much deeper
than gratitude, even with the warm afifection inspired by
high accomplishments and singular Christian worth. The
annals of friendship may be searched in vain for a more
sincere and honourable union of hearts than that which was
formed between these two men, who, after long living far
apart from each other, were in a somewhat unusual way
brought together.

The two travellers proceeded to Brussels and Cologne,
then to Bonn, Coblentz, Mainz, and Frankfort, enjoying
as they went along the splendid scenery of the Rhine. From
Frankfort they proceeded by one long day's journey to
Halle, in order to see its famous university. They were not
much impressed either with the physical or moral aspect of
the place, and unfortunately missed seeing its most cele-
brated professor, Tholuck, who was in the country. From
Halle they went to Berlin, where they had an interview with
Hengstenberg. This distinguished theologian, whose works

XXU BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

Professor Fairbaim had helped to make known in Great
Britain, did not favourably impress his visitors. Indeed,
his appearance, manner, and spirit greatly disappointed
them both. He looked more like an awkward and rather
morose student than an accomplished theological professor,
acquainted with the world as well as with his great science.
The questions put to him by his English translator he
answered curtly and imperfectly, while he had no questions
whatever to put in regard to the state of religion and the
Churches in Great Britain. But Hengstenberg had by this
time surrendered himself to those high Lutheran views
which greatly impaired his Christian usefulness, and lost
him the confidence of the Evangelical party in Prussia.
Having visited Potsdam, the travellers went to Hanover,
and thence to Cologne on their return to England.

In 1857, the same two fiiends made a tour in Switzer-
land, visiting on their way Paris and Strasburg. They went
on to Basle, Lucerne, Berne, Thun, Interlaken, Martigny,
Chamonix, and Geneva, greatly admiring the scenery, and
otherwise enjoying the delights of travel, mingled though
these were with the usual fatigues. At Vevay they had a
pledsant interview with Mr. Howson, now Dr. Howson,
Dean of Chester ; and at Geneva they met with Dr. Stevens,
Rector of St Andrew's Church, Philadelphia, who spoke of
Dr. Fairbaim's works as being greatly valued in America,
and acknowledged the benefit he had derived firom their
perusal. Interesting notes of both these Continental tours
were written by Dr. Fairbaim, and are still preserved ;
but no extracts can be given in a brief narrative of this
kind.

The Professor and his friend also made tours together at

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. XXIU

various times in the Highlands of Scotland, in Wales, in
Cumberland, and in Ireland. On one occasion they like-
wise visited the two great English imiversities. At Oxford
they met with Dr. Jelf, who seemed greatly struck with Dr.
Fairbaim*s appearance, and courteously showed them the
principal colleges and the library. Thqr also breakfasted
with the Rev. Edward A. Litton, who then first made the
acquaintance of the Scottish professor, and afterwards con-
tributed largely to the Imperial Bible Dictionary^ at the
request of its Editor. Their visit to Cambridge was also of
a pleasant character. A Fellow of Christ's College, who
was a friend of Mr. Wilson, conducted them over the prin-
cipal buildings. During all these excursions, Mr. Wilson
spared no personal effort to promote the enjoyment of one
whom he regarded with the highest admiration both as an
author and a friend.

While Professor Fairbaim filled with general acceptance
his chair at Aberdeen, the University of Glasgow conferred
on him the honorary degree of Doctor in Divinity. The
University of Edinburgh, where he had commenced and
completed his literary and theological studies, thus missed
the opportunity of being the first to recognise in a special
way the merits of her distinguished alumnus.

In 1856, when the Free Church College of Glasgow was
instituted, Dr. Fairbaim was appointed by the General
Assembly its first professor, and in the. following year he
was elected to the office of Principal. The Glasgow
College, at first equipped with three chairs, and a year after
with a fourth, was presided over from the very outset by
Dr. Fairbaim with great ability. He brought his valuable
experience gained at Aberdeen to bear upon the manage-

XXIV BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

ment of the new Institution, and soon had the satisfaction of
seeing it in excellent working order. While he discharged
his onerous and often unexpectedly increased professional
duties with signal success, he gave much time and thought
to the improvement of the buildings of the College, the
foundation and enlargement of its library, the better endow-
ment of its chairs, and the transaction of its general business.
Perhaps no man in the Free Church could have performed
so well the numerous duties that devolved upon him as
Principal, or which he voluntarily undertook out of zeal for
the success of an Institution which he hfelped so materially
to found and form, and which will long be associated with
his name. And while as Professor and Principal of the
College he commanded the respect of all his colleagues,
and endeared himself to his students as their accomplished
instructor and zealous friend, he took a high position in
Glasgow as a public man, ready to give his countenance
and assistance to every religious or benevolent enterprise
that engaged the attention of that great commercial city.
His majestic presence and dignified bearing, coupled with
readiness of speech and unaffected suavity of manner, were
sufficient to win favour in any company, to grace any plat-
form, and to aid the advocacy of any Christian cause.

In 1856,* Dr. Fairbaim published his work on Prophecy^
viewed in its Distinctive Nature^ its Special Functions ^ and
Proper Interpretation, This was intended to be a sequel or
supplement to the Typology; and certainly it partakes in
many respects of such a character. But though an able
performance, full of sound and solid views based on philo-
sophical principles of interpretation, it has not escaped the
common fate of supplementary works of the kind. It has

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. XXV

not been so popular as the Typology, but it imdoubtedly
deserves to be studied by all admirers of that excellent
work. In 1858, its author also published a Hermeneutical
Manual, or Introduction to the Exegetical Study of the Scrip-
tures of the New Testament. This work contains many able
discussions of difficult texts and subjects that meet the
student of the New Testament ; but, from its very nature,
it is more of a text-book for a theological class than a
work likely to attract the attention of the public. Though
worthy of his reputation, it has never gained general
favour.

A man of Principal Fairbaim's eminence could not fail
to receive the highest honour the Free Church has to
bestow. Accordingly, in 1864, he was elected Moderator
of the Free Church General Assembly. His dignified con-
duct in the chair was universally admitted, while his open-
ing and his closing address as Moderator were admirable in
tone and sentiment It may here be remarked, that while
his favourite occupations were those of the scholar and the
professor, he had an excellent knowledge of Church busi-
ness, J^nd took a fair share of the burden of ecclesiastical
government When he spoke in his Presbytery or in the
General Assembly, he uniformly commanded the attention
of his brethren, and his views were received with more than
ordinary respect The weight of his character gave him
peculiar power in debate ; and when he failed to convince,
he never ofifended his opponents. In the great Union
controversy, which lasted from 1863 to 1873, ^^ found
himself always in the same ranks with his revered friend
Dr. Buchanan ; but temperate in the advocacy of his own
opinions, he did everything in his power to mitigate and

XXVI BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

allay those unhappy contentions that for a time estranged
so many of his brethren from one another.

During many years of his residence at Glasgow, Dr. Fair-
bairn acted as editor of the Imperial Bible Dictionary, an
important work published by Messrs. Blackie and Son.
Even before he went to Glasgow as professor, it had been
virtually arranged that he should occupy that responsible
literary post. But some years elapsed before he had actu-
ally to enter on his editorial duties. The labour and
anxiety he underwent for many years in connection with
this great undertaking severely taxed both his intellectual
and physical energies. He was assisted, of course, by a
staff of able contributors ; but hot a few of these failed at
the last moment to send articles they had promised, and he
had of necessity to supply by a great effort their lack of
service. None but a man of his high attainments in biblical
scholarship could have so promptly and adequately met the
varied exigencies that arose during the preparation of such
a work, and its progress through the press. His arduous
labours in this undertaking came to an end in i866, when
at length the Imperial Dictionary was completed. The work
combines, in an almost unrivalled degree, sacred learning of
a high order with sound doctrine and an evangelical spirit
Its admirable pictorial illustrations add greatly to its interest
and value.

Soon after this great work was off his hands, Dr. Fairbaim
was appointed to deliver in Edinburgh the third series of
* Cunningham Lectures.' The first series, on the * Father-
hood of God,' had been delivered by Dr. Candlish, and the
second series, on the * Doctrine of Justification,' by Dr.
James Buchanan, one of the Professors of Theology in the

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. XXVU

New toUege, Edinburgh. Dr. Fairbaim chose for his
subject the * Revelation of Law in Scripture,' and treated it
in nine separate lectures, the first of which he delivered on
the 3d March 1868. The whole of them, in terms of the
trust deed founding the lectureship, were published in a
single volume soon after their delivery. This work un-
doubtedly possesses high merit as a philosophical treatise
on an important theological subject ; but in its nature and
style it is too abstract to be popular. It is not unworthy,
however, of that excellent foundation which the Free Church
of Scotland owes to the self-denying liberality of Mr. Binny
Webster.

At the meeting of the Free Church Commission in March
1867, Dr. Fairbaim, Dr. Guthrie, and Mr. Wells of the
Barony Free Church, Glasgow, were appointed a deputation
to visit the Assemblies of certain Presbyterian Churches in
America. These ministers, with their wives, sailed firom
Liverpool for America in the April foUowmg; but Dr.
Guthrie, owing to serious indisposition, was obliged to disem-
bark at Queenstown, and thus was unfortunately prevented
from paying a long-expected visit to his numerous friends
on the other side of the Atlantic Dr. Fairbaim and Mr.
Wells first visited the Assembly of the Old School and also
that of the New School Presbyterians, and found both of
these bodies hopefully negotiating that grand Union which
has since been so happily consummated. They were received
by their American brethren with great cordiality, and loaded
with hospitable attentions. The learned Principal, whose
name had travelled before him across the sea, and whose
* Jove-like presence ' excited general admiration, was every-
where specially welcomed as a scholar of distinction. The

XXVIU BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

two deputies next visited the Synod of the United Presby-
terian Church and the Synod of the Reformed (Dutch)
Church in the United States, and afterwards the Synod of
the Canadian Church not in connection with the Established
Church of Scotland. They also took the opportunity of
spending a few days at Princeton, for the sake of seeing its
celebrated college, which has since risen into increased
prosperity under the vigorous presidency of Dr. M'Cosh.
Dr. Hodge, that prince of American theologians, was absent
at the time, but Dr. Fairbaim had afterwards the satisfac-
tion of spending a day with him in Washington.

When the Committee was constituted for revising our
authorized version of the Old Testament Scriptures, Dr.
Fairbaim was naturally selected as one of the representatives
of the Biblical scholarship of Scotland. He attended most of
the meetings of the Committee from the commencement of
its arduous labours to nearly the period of his death, and
bestowed upon his work much careful study. It is under-
stood that his services were highly valued by his learned col-
leagues. On at least one occasion he was voted in a very
complimentary fashion into the chair. The meeting-place of
the Committee, the celebrated Jerusalem Chamber, interested
him greatly, from its Presbyterian associations, though he
acknowledged that a room more convenient for the purpose
might easily have been selected. Having at one time ex-
pressed a wish to resign his seat in consequence of the
growing inconvenience of his journeys to London, he was
entreated by his colleagues to change his mind ; and he, on
public rather than private grounds, agreed to co-operate
with them some time longer. He expected that the revision
of our English Bible would be successful and ultimately

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. XXIX

popular, but was not sanguine about its completion at a
comparatively early date.

In 187 1, the Principal received an unexpected expression
of the extraordinary affection with which he was regarded
by the young men who had studied at the Glasgow Free
Church College. A sum of ;£^2oo was subscribed with
enthusiastic eagerness by his ' present and former students '
in order to present him with a full-length portrait of himself
by an artist of acknowledged eminence. Mr. Norman
Macbeth, A.R.S.A., was selected, and succeeded in produc-
ing a very fine picture as well as an admirable likeness.
After it had graced the walls of the Royal Scottish Academ3r's
Exhibition in Edinburgh, it was presented to Dr. Fairbaim
in due form at a meeting of subscribers and friends held at
Glasgow in the following November. The Rev. James
Nicoll of Free St Stephen's, Glasgow, acted as the spokes-
man of his fellow-students, and on handing over to their
revered instructor the portrait in their name, delivered a
very eloquent speech. The Principal, in his reply, ad-
verted feelingly to the studies of his early life, the methods
of study he had followed, and the great objects he had
always endeavoured to keep stedfastly in view. He also
spoke of the evening of life drawing on, and the necessity
of increased earnestness in doing his work while health and
strength remained.

The Rev. Robert Howie of Govan, who, along with Mr.
Nicoll and the Rev. Archibald Henderson of Crieflf, took an
active part in the management of the necessary details,
bears the strongest testimony to the feelings of love and
veneration for Principal Fairbaim manifested by all his
students when subscribing to this testimonial. The portrait.

XXX BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

after being publicly exhibited in Glasgow, was hung up in
the hall of the Free Church College, where it still remains,
having been bequeathed by the Principal to that Institution.

At the commencement of the College Session in November
1872, Principal Fairbaim discharged the important duty of
presiding at the induction of Professor Candlish and the
ordination of Professor Lindsay, both of whom had been
appointed to chairs in the Glasgow College by the preceding
General Assembly. He preached from 2 Tim. ii. 2, and
delivered a very appropriate discourse, in which he addressed
his new colleagues in an aflfectionate and faithful manner.
Taking the deepest interest in everything bearing on the
prosperity of the Theological Institution over which he
presided, he specially rejoiced, on this auspicious occasion,
in the prospect of its undiminished efficiency.

Early in 1874, he published an elaborate work, in one
volume, on the Pastoral Epistles, In a learned introduc-
tion, the authenticity of the epistles, recently assailed by
many German critics, is ably and successfully vindicated.
Then the Greek text is given with a new translation. But
the most valuable part of the work is a commentary, or
series of expository notes, displaying fine discernment,
sound sense, and the varied results of genuine learning.
In an appendix, some important points receive a fuller
discussion than could find a place in the body of the work.
This is really one of the best of the author's books, and
ought to be one of the most popular. It is a very fresh
and usefiil contribution to modem biblical literature ; and
the present volume, which is fiiU of the spirit of the Pastoral
Epistles, will, it is expected, be ranged by its side in many
theological libraries.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. XXXI

In a limited sketch like this, no details of Principal

Fairbaim*s private life or personal religion can find a place.

But it must be stated that his house always presented a

picture of domestic happiness and intelligent piety. In

1 86 1 he was married to Miss Fanny TumbuU, a lady in

every way fitted to add to his comfort and usefulness. The

pain of former sad bereavements was gradually forgotten

during the latter years of his life, than which, in a domestic

point of view, none could be more tranquil and happy.

While his time was largely spent in severe intellectual toil,

and in the diligent discharge of arduous official duties, his

inward spiritual Ufe steadily increased, and he appeared to

realize, with growing vividness, the preciousness of those

great Christian doctrines he had done so much to elucidate

and defend. And thus, when in the course of last year

were held in Glasgow the remarkable series of evangelistic

meetings which have been associated with the names of

Messrs. Moody and Sankey, he took a deep interest in the

religious movement that ensued, and publicly gave it his

support He presided over several of the meetings at

which Mr. Moody was the chief speaker, and rejoiced in

the success of the great evangelist's work. That work was

especially commended to the support of not a few through

the countenance given to it by such a wise and judicious

man as Principal Fairbaim.

On the i6th April 1874, Dr. Fairbaim attended a great
evangelistic Convention held in the * Crystal Palace,' Glas-
gow, and delivered an earnest and valuable address ; but,
owing to the heat and excitement^ as well as to some
previous derangement of his system, he suddenly felt sick
and unwell before the business was far advanced, and had

XXXll BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

to leave the meeting. When he reached his house, he
went to bed, being prostrated by what may be called the
first serious illness of his life. He had always been a
remarkably healthy man, methodical and temperate in his
habits, an early riser, and accustomed to take long walks
before breakfast. Yet, while he had appeared to enjoy
perfect health and strength, there can be little doubt that his
constant devotion to study during a long course of years had
gradually developed an aflfection of the heart, which seems
to have been up to this period totally unsuspected. This
sudden and threatening attack, which confined him to his
bed for a few days, yielded to medical treatment, and all
serious danger was soon considered to be over. But he was
advised to spend a month or two of the summer in the
countiy, where he could tranquilly enjoy pure air and
necessary relaxation. Accordingly, accompanied by Mrs.
Fairbaim, his daughter, and a few other near relatives, he
went to Arrochar, Dumbartonshire, in the beginning of
June; and, being favoured with fine weather, he greatly
enjoyed his sojourn in that romantic locality. All around
him remarked that he seemed to be regaining completely
his former strength and spirits. The mellowed tone of his
conversation, and the finer traits of his character, brought
out, as it were, by affliction, also gave a new charm to his
society, and endeared him more than ever to his loved
domestic circle.

When at Arrochar, he returned to Glasgow for a single
day to preach in the evening, and preside at the ordina-
tion of Messrs. Gibson and Barclay as missionaries to
China. This service, though it broke in upon his needed
leisure, was quite congenial to his feelings; and he had

n

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. XXXlll

peculiar satisfaction in ordaining to the ministry two devoted
young men,— one of them the son of his former colleague,
Professor Gibson, — who had offered themselves as labourers
in a difficult part of the Foreign Mission field. He de-
livered on this occasion a very beautiful and appropriate
discourse from Ps. cxxvi., which has been published since
his death in the Christian Treasury,

On the 30th of June he went up to London to attend
a meeting of the Old Testament Revision Committee ; and
on the Saturday following he paid a visit to his friend Mr.
Wilson, which he greatly enjoyed. Of that visit Mr. Wilson
writes : ' It was short, but never can be forgotten by myself
or household. He bore evident traces of his recent illness ;
but still more evident were the signs of deepening con-
formity to his Saviour's likeness, and of fellowship with his
God.' Having completed his attendance on the Revision
Committee, he returned to Glasgow on the i ith July.

The following week he went to Berwickshire to visit
some of his relatives ; preached in the Free Church, Eye-
mouth, on the 19th; and went to Greenlaw on the 24th,
to assist his brother at his Communion. On the Sabbath
he spoke at the Communion Table, and preached in the
evening with great unction and power. Many were deeply
moved by his words and still more by the spirit that
breathed through all his ministrations. Leaving Mrs.
Fairbaim and his daughter; behind him^ he returned to
Glasgow on the following Tuesday, in order to be present
at a meeting of the Board for the examination of students
in Divinity, that was to be held in the course of the week.

On the Monday following, the 3d of August, he received
intelligence of the serious illness of his eldest son in Aus-

XXXIV BIOQRAPHICAL SKETCH.

tralia. This painfully affected him ; but he endeavoured to
bear the afficting news as calmly as possible. Yet Mrs.
Fairbaim, on hearing from him on the subject, immediately
left Greenlaw, and joined him at Glasgow. On Thursday
evening he conducted family worship as usual, and retired
to rest about eleven o'docL In little more than half an
hoiur, a peculiar breathing gave indication of a sudden
and fatal attack, which almost immediately ended in death.
Without a note of warning, either to himself or his beloved
partner, his spirit, in the solemn silence of midnight, sud-
denly passed away. Thus terminated, as by a swift trans-
lation, a truly noble life. Like Chalmers, Patrick Fairbaim
was spared all abatement of mental strength, the feebleness
of old age, the pain and struggle of the last conflict. In
the fulness of his power and usefulness, yet not before his
work was done, he was summoned to rest from his laboiurs,
and to enter into the joy of his Lord.

On the 13th August he was buried at Edinburgh, in the
Grange Cemetery, which contains the precious dust of so
ipQany of God's honoured servants. Not far from the
graves of Thomas Chalmers, William Cunningham, Thomas
Guthrie, and many other eminent Christian worthies,
his mortal remains are laid, in the hope of a blessed
resurrection.

The death of this distinguished man was deeply lamented,
not only by the members of his own Commimion, but by
many in all the Churches to whom his name and works
were familiar. The writer of this sketch happened to be out
of Scotland when the sad event occurred, and he can testify
to the deep sorrow it excited among ministers in other
lands, and of various denominations. Presbyterian and

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. XXXV

Episcopalian admirers of the Topology vied with one
another in expressing their regret for the loss which the
Church of Christ had sustained by the death of its author.

Principal Fairbaim left a widow, three sons, and a
daughter. His eldest son, as has been mentioned, died in
Australia soon after his father's death. Two sons, Patrick
and Thomas, and a daughter, Mary Ann, all by his second
wife, still siurvive. Patrick is settled at Demerara; Thomas
is at present in Shanghai. An interesting daughter, Jane,
after growing up to womanhood, died at Glasgow in 1859,
and was interred beside her mother in the family burying-
ground in the Grange Cemetery, Edinburgh, where her
father is now also laid. It may serve various useful pur-
poses to inscribe the names of an eminent man's children
in any account, however brief, of their father's life.

THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF
A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTORY. — THE RELATION OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE
TO THE CHURCH, AND THE CONNECTION BETWEEN
RIGHT VIEWS OF THE ONE AND A PROPER ESTIMATE OF
THE OTHER.

THE office of a Christian pastor obviously proceeds on
the assumption of a Christian membership or com-
munity, as the parties in respect to whom, and among whom,
it is to be exercised. It assumes that the flock of Christ are
not a mere aggregation of units, but have by divine ordination
a corporate existence, with interconnecting relationships,
mutual responsibilities, and common interests. It assumes,
further, that the Church in this associated or corporate
respect has a distinct organization for the management of
its own afifairs, in which the office of pastor occupies a
prominent place, having for its specific object the oversight
of particular communities, and the increase or multiplication
of these, according to the circumstances of particular times
and places. There are other things of a collateral or sub-
sidiary kind, not unimportant in themselves, and fitted to
exercise a considerable influence on pastoral relations: —
such as the internal constitution of the Church, or section
of the Church to which the pastorate belongs, its relation to

A

2 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

a superior governing power (whether of a presbytery or an
episcopate), the understanding on which destination is made
to a specific field of labour, or the tenure under which the
appointment is held. Matters of that description cannot
,fail to tell with more or less eflfect on the exercise of the
pastoral function, though they cannot be deemed of essential
moment. For they may be, and have been, ruled differently
in different portions of the Christian Church ; while still a
pastorate, with substantially the same duties to discharge,
and the same interests to prosecute, remains in each of
them. Nothing more for the present needs to be assumed
than the existence of the Church in separate outstand-
ing communities, constituted with a view to the promotion
of the great ends of evangelical truth and duty, pre-
sided over by persons destined to spiritual functions, and,
in particular, set apart to the ministration of the word and
the care of souls. This much, however, must be assumed,
and assumed without any detailed proof or lengthened vin-
dication. But as much depends upon the idea entertained
of the Church for the idea that also comes to be entertained
of the nature and ends of the ministerial calling, so that the
one cannot fail to act and react on the other, a brief outline
of the scriptural view of the Church (as we understand it)
in its more essential characteristics, and of the false views
which would either altogether supersede or injuriously
aflfect the character of the pastoral office, may form an
appropriate introduction to the line of thought and inquiry
that lies before us.

I. Scriptural idea of the Churchy considered with respect to
the nature and calling of the Christian pc^torate.—^i,) The
Church in its primary and fundamental aspect is the king-
dom of Christ, the spiritual society within which, as more
peculiarly His own. He is acknowledged as the rightful
Head, and served with a loving, loyal obedience. The

INTRODUCTION. 3

members of it are the election of grace, the partakers of
Christ's life and Spirit ; and as such, His body, in which
He more especially resides, and through which He acts for
holy ends upon the world. There is therefore a pervading
unity, an essential agreement in position, aims, and character
among those who really constitute the Church, arising from
their common relation to one head, and their mutual rela-
tion one to another, precisely as in the members of the
human body, or in the' subjects of a rightly-constituted and
well-ordered kingdom. The Church, in this higher aspect,
cannot be thought of but as an organic whole, boumd up
in living fellowship with Christ, He in it as the habitation
which He fills with the manifestations of His presence and
glory, and it again in Him as the root out of which it grows,
and the pattern after which, in character and destiny, its
members are to be conformed.

(2.) But the Church in this higher sense exists only ideally ^
so far as human perceprion or outward organization is con-
cerned ; visibly and actually it nowhere appears in the world,
except as it may be in part, by successive stages, realizing
itself among the members of Christian communities. This,
however, it is ever doing ; it is the very law of its growth.
And so, what is usually termed the invisible Church, invisible
as regards its component elements or actual membership
to man's view, though perfectly known to God's, demands
as its proper counterpart the visible. It demands this not
as a circumstantial adjunct merely, a convenient or suitablef
adaptation, but as a necessary co-relation, the inevitable
tendency and result of those spiritual instincts and divine
principles which link the believing soul to Christ, the Church
of the first-born on earth to the Church made perfect in
glory. For, as the internal operation and life-giving agency
of the Spirit come into effect through the external call and
ministration of the word, thus, and no otherwise ; so the
one spiritual body of Christ has for its necessary comple-

4 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

ment a formally constituted corporate society. In short, the
process of calling out of the world, and preparing for glory
the elect of God, realizes itself through the existence and
agency of a visible Church ; the visible is the nursery, and,
in a measure also, the image of the invisible. Only in so
far as it is so can it be said to fulfil its divine calling and
appointment In each Christian community the offices and
ministrations, the government and discipline, should be such
as may through the Spirit most effectually serve to diffuse
the saving knowledge of Christ, awaken and sustain the love
of those who receive it, form, nourish, and draw forth the
spiritual and holy graces, which are the very life and glory
of the elect society that are there in training for the kingdom
and presence of God. So that every individual, when as a
believer he connects himself with the membership of the
Church, should feel as if entering a society that holds of
heaven rather than of earth, a society in which all should
drop, as they enter, the selfishness and corruption of nature,
that they may mingle in the blessed harmony and com-
munion of redeemed souls.

(3.) It follows from this relation of the visible to the in-
visible Church, as to character and calling, that everything
in the several sections of the Church on earth should be
framed and regulated so as in the most faithful and efficient
manner to carry out the revealed mind of Christ. It ought
to be so, in a very special manner, with respect to the
Christian pastorate, to which belongs for all ordinary minis-
trations and results the highest place. Christ Himself is the
Shepherd of the entire flock; and the pastors whom He pro-
mised to provide, for whom He received gifts on finishing
the work given Him to do,^ are the under shepherds who
have to tend the flock in subordinate divisions, and dis-
tribute in due season the materials of life and blessing
committed to their hand. It is their part to stand and

1 Eph. iv. II, 12.

INTRODUCTION. 5

minister in His name ; to give themselves to the defence and
the propagation of His gospel ; to cause His voice, in a
manner, to be perpetually heard and His authority respected ;
in a word, to direct the operations and ply the agencies
which are fitted to bring those that are far off near to Christ,
and to carry forward their advancement in the life of faith
and holiness. Whatever private members of the Church
may, and also should, do toward the same end, — for where
all are taught of God, who should venture to think or to say
that he is charged with no responsibility for the good of
others? — ^yet those who are formally set as pastors and
teachers in the various Christian communities must, from the
very nature of their position and calling, have the chief
responsibility resting on them of doing what is needed to
enlighten, and edify, and comfort the souls of men.

(4.) And, finally, while all this has immediate respect to
the Church as a select body, and to the spiritual life and
wellbeing of those within its pale, it has also a real and im-
portant bearing on the world at large. For as the Church
is gathered out of the world, so it is called to be ever acting
on the world with regenerative and wholesome influence.
In this evangelistic and reformatory work the Church as a
whole, the Church individually and collectively, has the
charge committed to it; it is the candlestick which the
Lord has set up to diffuse abroad the light of heaven, or, to
refer to another metaphor of Scripture, the divinely im-
pregnated and impregnating leaven, which is to work till
the general mass of humanity is leavened. But the pastors
and teachers of the Church have here also, by virtue of their
special gifts and calling, the foremost place to occupy ; and
much must ever depend on their zeal and energy for the
progress that is made in the blessed work of reconciling the
world to God.

The views now presented contain nothing more than the
briefest possible outline of the nature of the Christian Church,

6 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

of the position assigned to the office of the pastorate in it,
and the share which this must necessarily have in all the
more vital and important functions which the Church has
to discharge. But even such an outline can hardly be pre-
sented without conveying to our minds an impression of the
lofty character of the pastoral office, and of the momentous
interests which are entrusted to its keeping. It stands in
close affinity with what lies nearest to the heart, and most
peculiarly Concerns the glory of God ; and high, assuredly,
must be the honour, and large the blessing, of being counted
worthy to take part in its sacred employments, if these
employments be but faithfully discharged; while, on the
other hand, a fearful responsibility must be incurred by
those who rush unprepared into the holy vocation, or manage
in a slovenly and careless manner the concerns with which
it charges them. But of this more hereafter : we turn now
to other views of the Church, such as are either wholly in-
consistent with a Christian pastorate, in the scriptural sense,
or injuriously affect it

II. Views of the Church which are subversive of the pas-
toral office as exhibited in Scripture, — ^The views which most
palpably tend in this antagonistic direction are those which
spring from a disposition to push to an extreme the more
spiritual aspect of the Church. The reformers found it
necessary to bring out very clearly and forcibly the dis-
tinction between the Church in this higher aspect, and
the existing visible communities, compounds of light and
darkness, purity and corruption, which claimed in the
hands of the Papacy to be possessed of everything which
entered into the idea of the Church. It was impossible
otherwise to raise a testimony, such as the times required,
against soul-destroying error. But the Reformation had not
proceeded far on its course when a tendency appeared on
the part of some to carry to an extreme the spiritualistic

INTRODUCTION. 7

element, and make comparatively nothing of the outward
and visible, consequently disparaging the organizations of
scripturally-constituted Churches. And such views have
their concrete representation still, in the Society of Friends,
for example, the Quakers, who so isolate and exalt the in-
ternal agency of the Spirit, as to render it independent of
all official appointments or formal distinctions. According
to them, it is only when * God raises up and moves among
the assemblies of the faithful by the inward, immediate
operation of His own Spirit,' certain persons to instruct, and
teach, and watch over them, that any are called to do the
work of ministers of the word ; and the proof that they are
called, is *by the feeling of life and power on the part of the
brethren which passes through them,' in connection with
the ministration.^ Hence, Mohler in his Symbolik^ trying
to expose the Lutheran doctrine respecting the visible and
invisible Church, represents Quakerism as * the consumma-
tion of Lutheranism,' because it carries fully out the maxim,
which he takes to lie at the root of Lutheranism, that * God
teacheth man only inwardly.' In Quakerism, certainly,
there is a very earnest endeavour to act in accordance with
this maxim, though the endeavour is by no means either
consistent in its working, or in its results 'successful. The
Society so far )delds to it as to discard all stated forms of
worship from having a place in the divine service, to disallow
the administration of sacraments, and to suffer the word of
exhortation or the presentation of audible prayer only when
the motion to do so proceeds from one who is conscious of
a special call from above to the exercise. Not merely the
actual^ but ih^ perceptible influence of the Spirit is required
to constitute a right to impart spiritual instruction or guide
the expression of pious feeling in their assemblies ; so that
it is not enough to say With the apostle, * If any man speak,
let him speak as the oracles of God,' but let him speak as a

^ Barclay's ApoU Prop. x.

8 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

conscious instrument of God's Spirit, obeying the impulse
of a higher power in his soul.

But with all this curtailment of the outward means of grace,
with the view of enhancing and elevating that which is
spiritual, much still remains, even with this peculiar class of
spiritualists, to reach the point, that God teaches man only
inwardly. For the formal basis, and to a large extent the
material, of the instruction which man has to receive in
divine things exists outside of him, and in so far as it works
by way of enlightenment, must do so from without inwards.
The incarnation of the Son of God, His atoning sacrifice,
corporeal death, and resurrection, were all external things,
connected on every side with the realities of sense and time ;
hence in themselves they belong to another region than that
of the individual consciousness, as does also the written word,
in which they are presented to our belief and contemplation.
There have been some, not so much, I believe, in this
country as in America, who in the interest of the distinctive
principles of Quakerism, the sufficiency of its inward light
and direct action of spirit upon spirit, have quitted their
hold of the historical Christ, and treated the evangelical
record as an allegory. This was, indeed, a terrible sacrifice
to make for the consistent maintenance of their spiritualistic
principles; it was, indeed, abandoning the substance of
Christianity itself for the sake of an extravagant assertion of
one of its characteristic features ; but, after all, it still fails to
secure the desired emancipation of the soul from dependence
upon the outward elements of instruction. For, interpret
the written word as you may, it is in itself an objective in-
strument, and, as such, the ground on which Quakerism, as
well as every other Christian denomination, rests for the
justification of its tenets and discipline. We know, indeed,
— and it is the exaggeration of this truth which gives rise to
the extravagance in question,- — that the word may be read
or proclaimed in the letter without being understood or re-

INTRODUCTION. 9

ceived in the spirit Yet that in no way prevents its being the
common, or even the indispensable, handmaid of the Spirit's
working, the means by which He may, without which He
ordinarily does not, let in the light of salvation on men's
souls, and conduct them in the way of peace. And if the
word has such an end to serve, why should it not be statedly
read in the assemblies of God's people ? Why not preached
and prayed over at every favourable opportunity? Why not
embodied also in outward symbol, and with the solemnity
of a covenant transaction impressed upon the heart and
conscience ? These are all, no doubt, outward things, and
of themselves are incapable of either converting souls to
God, or of building them up in righteousness ; but so far
they stand on a footing with the Bible itself; and the same
principle which would discard the one might equally discard
the other.

So, doubtless, the party in question would have acted if
their spiritual instincts had not prevailed in some degree to
counteract the tendency of their abstract principles. Yet
the system, as a whole, has proved a palpable failure ; it has
been without living warmth or impulsive energy, scarcely
able to perpetuate its existence, and exercising no assignable
influence on the degeneracy and corruption around it The
fundamental mistake of its adherents, and of the few other
sects who in principle coincide with them, lies in a miscon-
ception of the nature of the Spirit's work upon the soul.
And the inconsistence alleged against Protestants generally
by such writers as Mohler has this in common with it, that
it imputes to them, without any just warrant, substantially
the same view of the doctrine of the Spirit, and thence
chiefly derives what it possesses of a plausible character. It
assumes the action of the Spirit to be, according to Pro-
testant ideas, so peculiarly and essentially inward, as to
have no proper dependence on what are called the means
and ordinances of grace ; in which case it would be in ill

lO THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

accord with the complex constitution of man, and the known
laws of human thought and feeling. But, to use the words
of Isaac Taylor, who in this speaks the common senti-
ments of Protestant divines,^ * if it be true that the agency
of the Holy Spirit in renewing the heart is perfectly con-
gruous with the natural movements of the mind, both in its
animal and its intellectual constitution, it is implied, that
whatever natural means of suasion, or of rational conviction,
are proper to rectify the notions of mankind, will be em-
ployed as the concomitant, or second causes, of the change.
These exterior means of amendment are, in fact, only cer-
tain parts of the entire machinery of human nature ; nor
can it be believed that its Maker holds in light esteem His
own wisdom of contrivance, or is it at any time obliged tO
break up, or to contemn, the mechanism which He has pro-
nounced to be "very good.'' That -there actually exists no
such intention or necessity, is declared by the very form and
mode of revealed religion ; for this revelation consists of the
common materials of moral influence, argument, history,
poetry, eloquence. The same authentication of the natural
modes of influence is contained in the establishment of the
Christian ministry, and in the warrant given to parental in-
struction. These institutions concur to proclaim the great
law of the spiritual world, that the heavenly grace which
reforms the soul operates constantly in conjunction with
second causes and natural means. In an accommodated,
yet legitimate sense of the words, it may be affirmed of
every such cause, that the powers which be are ordained of
God ; there is no power but of His ordaining ; and whoso-
ever resisteth (or would supersede) the power, resisteth (or
supersedeth) the ordinance of God.*

Such being at once the scriptural and the commonly
received view among Protestants on the subject, it is mani-
festly erroneous to suppose that the internal action of the

^ Nat. Hist, of Enthusiasm, p. 69.

INTRODUCTION. 1 1

Spirit on the souls of men must be of a perceptible kind,
consciously distinct from one's own thoughts and volitions ;
equally so, that it must make itself known by communica-
tions apart from, if not superior to, those contained in the
revelation of divine truth in Scripture ; and still again, that
it stands in any sort of contrariety to an ordained ministry
and stated ordinances of worship. Any view of the Spirit's
agency which runs counter to the use of such natural aids
and appropriate channels of working betrays its own arbi-
trary and enthusiastic character. And it certainly is, as
again remarked by Taylor, among the singular incongruities
of human nature*, that notions of spiritual agency, which,
when viewed abstractedly, seem as if they could only belong
to minds in the last stage of folly and extravagance, have
been for generations maintained by a sect remarkable for
the chilliness of its piety, for its contempt of the natural
expressions of devotional feeling, and even for a peculiar
shrewdness of good sense in matters of worldly interest.

Another religious party, however, has arisen much more
aggressive than the Society of Friends (as these haye been
known in later times), and differing from them also to a
considerable extent in regard to the work of the Holy Spirit,
who yet so far concur with them in their views both as to
the Spirit and the Church, that they equally set themselves
against the function of an ordained ministry, and, indeed,
any fixed Church organization. I refer to the Plymouthists,
who perhaps approach more nearly to the parties that in the
times of the Commonwealth were known by the names of
Seekers and Spirituals^ than to the Quakers of the present
day '^ but they may be classed with the latter in this respect,
that they disallow the right of any one to teach or rule in
the assemblies of the faithful, except such as are directly
called and endowed by the Spirit to do so. They there-
fore repudiate and denoimce all kinds of ecclesiastical ordi-

^ See Gillespie's Miscellany Questions,

12 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

nations, fixed appointments to office, powers and authorities
conferred, or attempted to be conferred, through a human
instrumentality ; nay, associate with these, especially with a
regularly trained and endowed clergy, most of the corrup-
tions in the Christian Church. And along with these nega-
tive peculiarities, they hold it to be now, at this particular
stage of the gospel dispensation, the special and primary
duty of believers to stand forth as expectants of the near
advent of Christ ; and, as such, to separate themselves from
the mixed communities of Christendom, simply to recognise
each other as united in the common bond of Christian faith
and hope, and, when meeting together, to promote each
other's edification by the exercise of such gifts of teaching
or administration as the Spirit may be pleased to confer on
any of their number.

It is of course quite easy, in the existing state of many of
the Protestant Churches of Christendom, to take advantage
of various corruptions and abuses for the purpose of giving
some plausible colour and support to the views now indi-
cated ; and there are not wanting currents of religious
thought, phases of mind and character, which tend to foster
the disintegrating, individualizing spirit, which finds its pe-
culiar power and development in Plymouthism. But with-
out entering into the examination of these, looking only for
a moment at the views themselves which this party wish to
have regarded as emphatically scriptural, there are two
fundamental errors which, on the ground of Scripture, may
be charged against them, and which are entirely fatal to the
pretensions raised upon them. One is an error in respect to
prophecy, which they imduly elevate ; and another in respect
to history, which they unduly depreciate. As regards the
former, we lay down the position, that it is not now, nor
ever has been, the insight fiunished by prophecy into the
Church's future which constitutes the ground of her polity,
but present truth and duty. Believers in Old Testament

INTRODUCTION. 1 3

times, more especially when those times were verging to a
close, were assuredly called to look and wait for a coming
Messiah. Yet it was not this state of expectancy, or the
changes which were to be introduced by it, but the past re-
velations of God, and the measure of truth therein unfolded,
which gave birth to the ordinances of worship that were
binding on the members of the old covenant, and deter-
mined the relative functions and modes of administration by
which its affairs were to be carried on. The very last
charge given by Old Testament prophecy to the people of
God, was to observe the statutes and judgments introduced
by Moses (Mai. iv. 4). Not, therefore, by separating one-
self from these (as the Essen es did), but by the diligent and
proper use of them, was the work of preparation for the
events in prospect to be secured* And it is the same in New
Testament times. There, the Church itself as an organized
institution, with its gifts of grace and offices of ministration,
took shape in connection with the incarnation and work of
Christ in the flesh ; in this, a thing of the past, not in any
announcement of His coming again in the future, is placed
the ground and reason of all that properly belongs to it
And though intimations were given, both by our Lord and
His apostles, of defections that should take place, and cor-
ruptions in doctrine and practice that should enter into His
Church before He should appear in His glory, yet the call
that is addressed to His people in connection with these is
merely to resist the evil and witness against the abuse, but
not to refuse the order or change the administration which
from the first has carried with it the sanction of His approval
and the promise of His blessing. For this a specific revela-
tion from heaven would be needed, laying anew the founda-
tion of a Church polity on earth, or warranting believers to
withdraw from the foundation already laid. And believers
only invert the established order and revelation of things,
when they have recourse for the rule of their procedure in

14 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

• such matters not to the historical past, but to the still un-
developed future.

But it is not thus alone that the historical element in the
constitution of the Church is made too little account of by
the parties in question. For this Church, it must be re-
membered, did not come into existence as an entirely new
creation. It was grafted, like Christianity itself, on the old
stock of Judaism ; and as to external form and official organi-
zation, it had its preparatory type in the arrangements of
the Jewish S3magogue. The narrative of apostolic labour
in the Acts and other incidental notices of New Testament
Scripture plainly implies as much ; and subsequent investi-
gation has confirmed the impression beyond any reasonable
doubt The Christian Church, even when under apostolic
guidance and direction, did not disdain to borrow, in the
regard now under consideration, from existing institutions ;
and for any persons now summarily to discard what exists,
and attempt to model everything anew, with no object but to
afford scope for the exercise of spiritual gifts and operations,
is certainly to follow another course than that marked out
by apostolic precedent. True, in one' point there is, if not
a total, yet a comparative want of resemblance, between
the Jewish Synagogue and the Christian Church ; no one
in the former was ordained to the office of a regular and
stated pastorate; and this circumstance has been laid
hold of, by the parties now immediately under considera-
tion, for the purpose of disproving the necessity of such a
pastorate in the Christian Church. But the idea of the office
in a general form was undoubtedly there, namely, in the
joint eldership who were charged with the spiritual over-
sight of each synagogal community; only, from the relative
defect of the times as to spiritual light and privilege, this
idea never developed itself into a proper pastorate, or a
regular ministration of word and ordinance in the hands of
any single individual. Such a development was necessarily

INTRODUCTION. 1 5

reserved for the gospel dispensation ; which had scarcely
entered on its course till a palpable advance was made in
this particular direction, and a church was constituted in
which a prominent place was given to the office of pastors
and teachers, not, indeed, as formally distinct from that of
the eldership, but with a special rise and enlargement of one
of its functions.

In regard, however, to the right to hold and exercise
the functions in question, there is a point that requires to
be carefully guarded, which in regularly organized commu-
nities is apt to be somewhat lost sight of, sometimes is
even entirely misapprehended; and the partial defect, or
actual error, is not unfrequently turned to account by the
spiritualists in disparagement of the pastoral office. I refer
to the relation of the office, as an institution of Christ, to the
gift of the Spirit qualifying an individual for its discharge.
What is of God in the matter may also be, and ordinarily
should be, through man; and it is in the due co-ordination
and harmonious working of the human and the divine that
the will of Christ is properly accomplished; The original
planters of Christian churches, the apostles of our Lord,
held directly of Him ; in their ordination, human instru-
mentality had no room to work ; as also in their qualifications
for what was given them to do, not only spiritual, but super-
natural endowments of a high order came into play. But
we are not thence warranted to infer that there should be
the same direct intervention from above in subsequent and
inferior appointments, any more than that because the word
had the outward attestation of miracles in the gospel age,
a like attestation might be expected for it after the Church
had begun to take root in the world. Even in the apostolic
age, from the time that matters had become in some degree
consolidated, respect was constantly had to the official
position and instrumental agency of men. St. Paul himself,
who was not only called, but had occasion strongly to assert

1 6 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

that he had been called, to the work of an apostle, * not of
man, nor by the will of man, but of God,' still submitted to
be designated by the Church of Antioch, through imposition
of hands, to a special mission (Acts xiii. 3) ; and both he
and the other apostles associated with them the eldership
of the church at Jerusalem, when they came together to
determine the question about circumcision. The decree
issued was sent forth as the joint resolution of the Holy
Ghost and the assembled heads of the Church on the sub-
ject (Acts XV. 28). In all the churches, too, planted by
Paul, we find him ordaining elders or presbyters for the
regular administration of word and ordinances ; while the
real authority to act in the name of Christ, and the excellence
of the power in doing so with effect, he never hesitated to
ascribe to God. Why should any contrariety be supposed,
in such cases, to exist between the divine agency and the
human instrumentality? In ministerial ordinations and
appointments, the Church does not pretend, at least she
should not, and when rightly constituted she does not pre-
tend, to confer the gifts necessary to the rightful and pro-
fitable exercise of spiritual functions ; she simply recognises
the gifts as already possessed in such measure as to
warrant her, by a solemn act, to encourage and authorize
the exercise of them in a particular sphere. Wherever the
matter is rightly gone about, the process is as follows : —
the Church, through her ordinary channels of working,
comes to obtain a certain number of persons, who are pos-
sessed of higher qualifications and spiritual gifts than belong
to the general run of her members ; these, when she finds
them willing to separate themselves to the work of the
ministry, she puts into a course, or takes cognizance of them
while they put themselves into a course, of training for the
work ; and this being done to her satisfaction, the endow-
ments of nature and of grace possessed by the individuals
being in her judgment such as to warrant the hope of future

INTRODUCTION. 1 7

usefulness, she sets her seal upon them by a formal act of
ordination, appointing the individuals to the oversight of
some particular portion of the flock of Christ Viewed
thus, which is the only proper light wherein to contemplate
it, ordination to the work of the ministry, and other cog-
nate offices, is only a becoming exemplification of the
apostolic precept, * Let all things be done decently, and in
order.'

On the other hand, let the principle of the spiritualists be
adopted, and perfect freedom allowed every member of the
religious community to exercise the gifts he thinks himself
possessed of, what effectual check is there against abitrari-
ness and presumption ? What confusion and disorder may
not, for a time at least, come into operation ? Here one, we
can suppose, shall rise up claiming to have received the
gift of teaching from the Spirit ; there another, asserting for
himself the power of government ; and another claiming to
possess the discernment of spirits, so as to be capable of
assigning to each his proper place and character in the
reckoning of heaven ; and whatever extravagance or delu-
sion there might be in such assumptions, still, on the views
of an idealistic and individualizing spiritualism, the claim
must in the first instance be conceded, and only by and by
rejected, if the teaching and procedure foxmded on it should
be found to clash with the general sense of the commimity.
But, meanwhile, what distmrbance might be created ? what
improfitable jangling, perhaps irreparable mischief, occa-
sioned in the process? Such, indeed, that no religious
community acting on the principle in question, and fairly
carrying it out, has ever been able to perpetuate itself.
Either some sort of constitutional government has been
practically called into existence to temper and control the
spiritualistic element, or the community has fallen a prey
to its internal weakness and indiscriminate self-assertion.

Doubtless there were things connected with the first great

B

1 8 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

movements of spiritual life and action in the Christian
Church which have a somewhat irregular appearance, not
quite reducible to the method and order of constitutional
government ; as there have been also in times of convulsive
energy and deep spiritual awakening. The parties against
whom we now reason are in the habit of making their
appeal to such things. That is, they would make what is
peculiar and occasional the rule and warrant for ordinary
administrations; and not imcommonly what was peculiar
and occasional is exaggerated, made to appear greater than
it actually was, by throwing into the background circum-
stances of a qualifying or counterbalancing kind. It is in
accordance with all that we know of the Spirif s mode of
operation in the Church, that when the position of affairs
was so singular, and the exigencies of the Church in many
respects so great, as they were at the commencement of the
gospel. He would adapt His gifts and methods of working,
in ways somewhat extraordinary, to the state of the times ;
thus giving special encouragements to beHevers amid their
heavy struggles and embarrassments, and compensating, in
a measure, for the want of resources which might at other
times be within their reach. But things of that description,
however expedient or even necessary at the beginning, might
have proved disadvantageous afterwards; because tending
to hinder the free and fitting development of the Christian
life in its various capacities and powers of action. And it
is again in accordance with all that we know of the Spirit's
operations, that the natural should, wherever and so far as
properly available, be turned to account, and sanctified to
spiritual uses. In the case even of the apostles, at least of
the more prominent and influential among them, the recog-
nition of this principle can be without difficulty traced.
For, amid all that surrounded them of the supernatural and
miraculous, we still see nothing like a disparagement or sup-
pression of their natural powers and susceptibilities ;. but,

'I II I. ■ _ ii ■■ I III —I t »iaiiii II 1 I III iin»«i .IB m_m 1 . I

INTRODUCTION. 1 9

on the contrary, a most real and valid consideration made
of them. By these, indeed, their relative places and spheres
of operation were to a large extent determined. In St
Paul's case, especially, if we may not say he was called
to be the apostle to the Gentiles because he was pos-
sessed of singular mental powers, of Grecian culture, and
Roman citizenship, it is still clear that these formed no
mean part of the qualifications which rendered important
service to him in the prosecution of his high calling. Nor
was it materially different in regard to the outward support
of the ministry. During the earliest stage of ministerial
agency our Lord charged Himself, in a manner, with the
support of those who were engaged in it. He sent forth
His disciples on their first missionary tour without purse, or
scrip, or even change of raiment, * in order that, while He
was still present with them, and personally destitute of
material resources, they might have convincing evidence of
His willingness and power to bring all necessary provisions
to their hand. But at a later period, when on the eve of
taking His departure from them,^ and preparing them for
what should be the future order of things. He indicated the
propriety of their adopting whatever means or precautions
lay within their reach : they were, henceforth, to serve them-
selves of the natural and the ordinary materials of suste-
nance or safety, so far as these might be at their command,
and could be made available. It was but to follow out the
spirit of this original revelation of the Lord's mind and will,
when the members of the New Testament Church provided,
through their free-will offerings, for the maintenance of those
who gave themselves to the work of the ministry, as well as
for the relief of the poor; and when the principle was
formally announced by the Apostle Paul, that 'they who
preach the gospel should live of the gospel.'' If the
principle has been abused in later times by the institution

* Matt. X. 9, 10. • Luke xxii. 36. ^ I Cor. ix. 14.

20 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

of rich benefices, and the employment of simoniacal prac-
tices, the legitimate use, with its scriptural warrant and
obligation, still remains.

Other considerations, also, come in aid of those which
are furnished by the word of God, pointing in the same
direction. How, in a busy, and to a large extent hostile
world, can the interests of the gospel be expected to flourish
without a special class of officers charged with the responsi-
bility of watching over them, and placed in a position which
may enable them to devote their time and energies to the
work ? How, even in well-informed and orderly congrega-
tions, can the souls of the people be fed with sound know-
ledge, and their Christian efforts be rightly stimulated and
made to tell with proper effect on the state of things aroxmd
them, without the wise counsels and earnest application of
a faithful ministry? The dictates of common sense, and
the lessons also of past experience, concur in showing the
necessity of adhering in this respect to the method, which
has met the common approval of Christendom. It is well
to say that the members of Christian congregations should
each apply themselves, as God may enable them, to ex-
hortation, and prayer, and active labours for the spiritual
instruction and wellbeing of others. No doubt they should^
and also will do this, if religion is in a healtfiful and
thriving state among them ; but never, unless perhaps in a
few exceptional cases, can it be reasonably expected to such
an extent as to supersede the necessity of a regular pastorate.
It certainly has not done so in the past, and it seenis less
and less likely to do so in the future. The circumstances of
the world, and of the Church itself, are manifestly of a kind
to call for the undivided efforts of as many qualified pastors
as there is the least probability of obtaining, and whatever
occasional help besides can be derived from the more zealous
and devoted members of particular congregations. It is not,
we may be well assured, the cause of righteousness, but the

INTRODUCTION. 21

interests of worldliness or sin, which would be gained by a
general discontinuance of the pastoral office in the Church,
or by the withdrawal, from those who fill it, of such tem-
poral encouragement and support as may admit of the
undivided application of their services to the work of the
ministry. , .

III. Views of the Church which, though not fatcU to the
existence, are injurious to the proper' character of thepastorcU
office, — It is quite possible, and has, indeed, been found
greatly more common, to err both as to the idea of the
Chm-ch, and the nature of the pastoral function associated
with it, by pushing to an extreme the formal or visible
aspects of the subject, than by going too far in the opposite
direction. These may be so unduly magnified and dwelt
upon as virtually to disparage and cast into the shade such
as are of a more vital and spiritual nature ; as is done pre-
eminently in the hierarchical system of Rome, and in other
communions in proportion as they are leavened with High
Church notions of the priesthood and the sacraments. The
system (whatever elements of truth may be combined with
it) is always fraught with danger to the spiritual interests of
the individual believer ; for the tendency here is to repress
individualism, hence to weaken the principle of personal
responsibility, and dispose men to substitute an easy and
formal acquiescence in something done for them, in lieu of
a work of grace wrought in them by the Word and Spirit of
Christ. It does not, however, carry the same formal opposi-
tion to the subject more immediately under consideration,
as the erring tendencies in the other direction ; for in the
hierarchical Churches referred to there is also a pastorate,
or cure of souls, only one of a materially different character
from that recognised in the Reformed Churches, and, as. we
believe, sanctioned in Scripture ; a pastorate which is at
the same time a priesthood, and is mainly distinguished by

22 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

the work of mediation which it has to perform in behalf of
those who are the objects of its solicitude. Under such a
system, everything necessarily partakes of a false tinge and
bias ; pastoral theology has to busy itself chiefly with offices
and administrations of a vicarious kind, ritualistic services
and sacerdotal offerings ; with these, at least, much more
than with any direct manifestations of the truth to the hearts
and consciences of men. But the extent to which this may
be done, and the danger which is in consequence brought
to the interests of vital godliness, will depend on the degree
in which the hierarchical element, with its accompanying
ceremonialism, is allowed to prevail.

It is in the Romish Church, with which indeed may be
included the several divisions of the Eastern Church, as
in this respect there is no material difference, that the
element in question has its most complete and systematic
development And it has obtained such ascendancy there,
mainly because of the undue, almost exclusive regard that
it had to the external relations and formal services of the
Church as a visible Institute. Indeed, so far as any prac-
tical purpose is concerned, no other view of the Church is
ever brought into notice, or distinctly contemplated as pos-
sible ; and every effort is put fortii to treat as entirely
theoretical and inconsistent the Protestant doctrine of a
spiritual or invisible, in connection with a visible Church.
* Protestants ' (says Bossuet in his Variations) ' insist that the
Church consists exclusively of believers, and is therefore
an invisible body. But when asked for the signs of a
Church, they say the word and sacraments, a ministry and a
public service. If so, how can it consist exclusively of the
pious ? And where was there any society answering to the
Protestant definition before the Reformation ? ' So, also,
more recently Mohler in his Symbolik, After quoting
Luther*s sentiments regarding the individual Christian as one
taught of God through the divine word and Spirit, and re-

INTRODUCTION. 23

presenting the Church as composed of such as have been so
taught, he thus proceeds : * It hence cannot be discerned
why he should need the supplemental aid of a congrega-
tion invested with authority, from whose centre the word of
God should be announced to him ; for by the assistance of
the outward divine word alone, written in the depths of his
heart, he hears His voice, and without an immediate organ.
What, after all this, can the Church be other than an invisible
community, since no material object in the visibility of the
Church can any longer be conceived? Yet,' he adds,
* Luther all at once admits, without its being possible to dis-
cover in his system any rational ground for such an assump-
tion, the establishment of human teachers, and even the
lawfulness of their calling. Hereby the Church becomes
visible, recognisable, obvious to the eye ; so that the ill-
connected notions of God, the sole teacher, and of a human
teacher declared competent, and who cannot even be dis-
pensed with, meet us again in such a way as to imply that
the invisible is still a visible Church also.'

The whole that there is of plausibility in this line of
attack arises from a kind of clever confounding of things
that differ, treating the two aspects of the Church as set
forth by Protestants with studied perplexity, as if they were
to be understood in reference to precisely the same interests
and relations. When contemplated with respect to the
true scriptural idea, the Church is the living body of the
glorified Redeemer ; and, as such, it is necessarily composed
of those, and of those alone, who have been justified by
His grace, and made partakers of His risen life. The signs
of it in that point of view are not, as Bossuet insinuates,
the word and sacraments, — ^no intelligent Protestant writer
could so represent it, — ^but faith, holiness, perpetuity. These,
however, firom their very nature, are strictly inward and
spiritual properties ; they depend simply on the reality of
the soul's communion with Christ, and the regenerating

24 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

grace of the Holy Spirit But when the question comes to
be, How usually is this life-giving work of the Spirit, and
communion with the Son, begun and carried on in the ex-
perience of men ? it is proper to reply, — Through the word
and the sacraments, or the ministrations and ordinances
of the gospel, which, in so far as they are scripturally main-
tained and dispensed, are of God, and if not the only, still
are the ordinary channels through which the Spirit imparts
the blessings of salvation to the soul.

In the Bible first, and generally also in the Protestant
confessions, the work of our salvation is presented to our
view as primarily a personal concern, a transaction which
has to take place between the soul and God. And the
determination of the question, whether this has really be-
come an accomplished thing in our experience, must ever
turn on the state of the heart toward God, whether or how
far it has come to be alive to the concerns of salvation
in Christ, and has surrendered itself to the power of His
grace and truth. The great source of salvation, and the

' vital bond that connects us with it, being alike spiritual, the
main stress neither is nor could by possibility be laid upon
our relation to some external apparatus, or human instru-
mentality. These, at best, can be but the appointed means
and channels. The boon itself reaches the soul only when
by a spirit of faith there is the appropriation of a living
Saviour, and a humble reception of His word of truth. If
these really exist, no matter how they may have come into
operation, or where ; it is of no moment whether amid
the solemnities of worship, or in an hour of silent com-
muning with Heaven ; whether through a message spoken
in due season by an ordained minister of the gospel, or
by a word dropped in the private intercourse of Christian
fellowship by a believing brother ; the soul has foimd the
blessing ; it has laid hold of Him who is the fulness of

, life and blessing; and its portion is, beyond doubt, with

INTRODUCTION. 2$

the Church of the first-bom, whose names are written in
heaven.

But are we on this account independent of the visible
Church ? Do we owe nothing to its ministrations, and has
it nothing to expect from us in return ? On the contrary,
we should never, in all probability, have sought after the
requisite state of mind, and the blessings associated with it,
or known how to attain them, except from the advantages
enjoyed in connection with the visible Chm-ch ; and as with
the beginning, so with the future progress. The two, in
short, stand related as a double and closely interconnected
system of means ; the direct and immediate are repentance
toward God, and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ ; but
in order to the production and development of these, there
is in the hand of the Spirit another class of means, of a
remoter and outward kind, — the ministrations, ordinances,
watchful superintendence and oversight of the Church. Is
not this in correspondence with what takes place in the
natural sphere of things ? 7>^^also the prime, the essential
thing is the secret implantation of a living principle in an
organism fitted to receive and manifest its properties ; but
this organism itself is linked to a system of external adap-
tations, through which the vital principle is brought into
existence, nourished into strength, and carried forward to
the proper maturity and perfection of its nature.

Thus the sought-for point of union between the visible
and the invisible Church,^ to use the words of Litton, * lies
in the administration of those means of grace by which, as
instruments, the Holy Spirit works, continually replenishing
the true Chm-ch with members out of the visible ; and those
means are the preached word and the sacraments. To the
visible Church it belongs to administer these ordinances ;
for whatever be the state of heart of those to whom the
mmistry of the word and the sacraments is committed, these

* T)u Churchy p. 368.

26 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

means of grace are efficacious not on account of, that is,
not directly or primarily on account of, the human channel
through which they pass, but by virtue of Christ's promise,
and the faith of the recipient. To the visible Church, then,
belongs the public administration of the means of grace ;
and as it is by the instrumentahty of these means that the
true Church is gathered in, it is obvious that it is no more
possible to sever the one from the other, than it is to sever
the inward grace of the sacraments from the outward sign ;
and that, in fact, as in the sacraments the outward sign and
the inward grace are not two sacraments, but the two aspects,
the inward and the outward, of one and the same ordi-
nance, so the visible and the true Church are not distinct
communities, but one and the same, regarded from different
points of view. The true Church depends for the main-
tenance of its existence on the visible Church ; and, in turn,
the visible Church is supported by the true. Thus a reci-
procal action is ever going on : the visible Church, as such,
dispensing the means of grace by which Christ works to the
gathering in of His elect ; and the true Church, as such,
upholding and perpetuating the visible use of those means
by furnishing faithful recipients of them.'

I only add to this clear statement regarding the mutual
bearings and relations between the true and the visible, or
the elect and actual Church, that the distinction, we should
ever remember, is of man's, not of God's making. The two
should correspond in number and extent, and would do so
but for the corruption and hypocrisy of men, which are ever
marring the efficiency of God's ordinances, and bringing
imperfection and disorder into His kingdom. The visible
Church, as formerly stated, ought to be the community of
saints, the brotherhood of faith ; so that in it, as in a mirror,
men might see what the life of Christ actually is, and be ever
deriving from it salutary impressions upon their hearts and
consciences. This can be but imperfectly done so long as

INTRODUCTION. 2/

the representation stands in the characters of single indi-
viduals or isolated families. There must be social organiza-
tion, united action, collective results, otherwise nothing
great, or general, or permanent can be reached ; and the
Church militant is true to her calling, and fulfils her mis-
sion, only in so far as she everywhere presents the aspect
of a kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy
Ghost

With such views of the nature and calling of the Christian
Church, we have no hesitation in rejecting as unscriptural
and misleading any Church system which, on the ground
merely of its historical position, its ecclesiastical polity, or
hereditary claim to be the dispenser of salvation, would dis-
pose men to look more to the external framework and
formal administration of the kingdom of Christ than to its
spiritual aims and inner life ; to be more concerned about
preserving the right relation to a human instrumentality and
a generally recognised order of things, than about their
relation to the mind and Spirit of Christ ; in a word, to
make salvation primarily and chiefly a matter of compliance
with a prescribed ritual of service, and of interest in the
ministrations of a divinely-constituted priesthood. Such a
system, wherever it exists, and however it may be guarded,
must always be perilous to the souls of men, since it neces-
sarily tends to carnalize their views of divine things, to fix
their regard more upon form than substance, and to turn
the work of the ministry, in its higher fimctions, from an
earnest treatment of the sublime realities of the gospel for
the good of men, into a mechanical routine of observances
which the stupidest of men could perform with equal pro-
priety as the most intelligent and wise.

The evil, too, is all the greater, and the more apt to
impose on the credulity of men, firom its existing in the
firmly-compacted system of Rome, where, with a certain
measure of plausibility, an appeal can be made to an ap-

28 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

parently unbroken historical connection with the past, and
the claim is made, as of right, to the heritage of doctrine
and worship which has descended from the first fathers of
the Christian Church. Unquestionably a certain weight is
due to the historical element in determining the relation we
should occupy toward any particular Church, and the title
it may rightfully have to our allegiance. It should not be
without solid grounds that we set aside a claim which,
either in a national respect, or from personal ties, may press
itself on our regard. Still this historical element itself is
an outward thing ; it does not directly touch the vitals of
the faith ; and there are important considerations to show
that the outwardness belonging to it, whether as connected
with the Church of Rome or with any other visible Church
in Christendom, should be allowed nothing more than a
secondary place, and should yield, when necessary, to the
higher claims of truth and righteousness.

(i.) In the first place, the history of the past presents a
conclusive argument against the absolute force of any simply
historical claim, on the part of a Church or religious com-
munity, to our acceptance. For the Christian Church itself
started on its course with the peremptory denial of such a
claim. Christianity sprang out of Judaism, and when taking
root in the earth as an organized society or spiritual king-
dom, though but a fresh exhibition and prgfper development
of what ahready existed in the synagogue, it had at the out-
set to cast off the authority of the s)aiagogue, and piu^ue an
independent course. This consideration has been put forth
by the advocates of Protestant liberty in former times, by
Claude, for instance, in his disputation with Bossuet, and
has never met with a valid reply. Bossuet m-ged the inevi-
table tendency of the Protestant doctrine toward Indepen-
dentism, and asked what remedy it provided against * that
intolerable presumption which must lead an individual to
believe that he can understand Scripture better than the

INTRODUCTION. 29

best CEcumenical Councils and the whole Church together/
Claude objected to this alleged unanimity, the contrary
decisions of councils, such as that of Rimini ; but passing
from that, he said there is ' an incontestable example ; there
is the judgment of the synagogue when it condemned Jesus
Christ, and by consequence declared that He was not the
Messiah promised by the prophets.' This, he affirmed, was
an imquestionable fact, and it proved that one might do
without presumption that which had been pronounced to be
intolerable and presumptuous. Bossuet professes to have
seen at once the transparent fallacy of this argument, and
prayed for grace that he might show it to be so to those
who appeared greatly taken by it * When an individual
now J he said, ' denies the authority of the Church, there is
no other external means by which God can avail Himself to
dissolve the doubts of the ignorant, and beget in the faithful
the necessary humility. In order to draw such an argument
from the conduct of the S)aiagogue, it is necessary to affirm
that there was not on earth any external means, any sure
authority, to which one ought to submit. But who can say
t?iat when Jesus Christ was on the earth ? Truth itself then
visibly existed among men, the Messiah, the eternal Son
of God, to whom a voice from heaven gave testimony before
all the people : " This is my beloved Son, hear Him."
True, it was resisted, though infallible. I don't say that the
authority of the Church has never been contested, but I say
it ought not to have been so by Christians. I say there has
never been a time on the earth in which one has not been
sure of a visible, speaking authority, to which obedience
ought to be yielded. Before Jesus Christ we had the syna-
gogue j when the synagogue was going to fail, Jesus Christ
Himself appeared ; and when Jesus Christ withdrew, He left
His Church with the Holy Ghost. Bring me back Jesus
Christ ; I no longer want the Church ; but you must restore
to me Jesus Christ in person, and an infallible authority.'

30 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

Such, from a Papal point of view, will naturally appear a
perfectly satisfactory way of viewing the matter, and unan-
swerably right ; and yet it is without, any solid foundation,
and entirely evades the real merits of the question. Firsts
it lays stress upon the peculiar circumstances of the time, as
if these formed the essential features of the case, and in a
manner constituted it a principle of working. This, how-
ever, was to misjudge Christ ; for it was precisely through
the circumstances in which He was placed, and His bearing
under them, that we learn His will ; and whatever He did
in the fulfilment of His mission, may in spirit be done over
again by His people when placed in positions somewhat
analogous. But, secondly, it totally misrepresents the action
of Christ at the period referred to, for the purpose of de-
stroying the parallel between His case and ours. When
Christ personally appeared before the synagogue, truth did
then, indeed, visibly exist among men; but He did not
stand upon what, as such, was due to Him ; neither then,
nor at any other time during His sojourn on earth, did He
press rights and prerogatives that were peculiar to Himself.
When tempted by Satan in the wilderness. He took the part
of an ordinary believer under trial, simply leaning as a child
on the word of His Father in heaven. And when judged
and condemned by the synagogue, He waived all His dis-
tinctive claims to honour and regard, and quietly carried
His appeal heavenwards, committing Himself, as St. Peter
expresses it, to Him that judgeth righteously.^ If, however,
we look from the Master to the disciples, whose case more
nearly resembles ours, the light furnished is still more de-
cisive j for when it became necessary for them to take up a
separate position, as the guides and leaders of the Christian
Church, Christ was no longer visible on earth ; He had
gone to the right hand of the Majesty on high, and to this
invisible Head was their appeal formally made : * We must

* I Pet. ii. 23.

INTRODUCTION. 3 1

obey God rather than man ; ' or more exactly, ' Whether it
be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than
unto God, judge ye.' i Thirdly^ when the advocate of the
Romish Church speaks of the Church being left as Christ* s
substitute, the only remaining visible authority upon earth,
he quietly assumes the very point at issue; for what or
where is the precise community so left ? Is it the Papal,
or the Greek, or some particular branch of the Reformed
Church ? The case now is greatly stronger for a liberty of
choice among these, or a freedom to act in certain circum-
stances above them all, than at the commencement of the
Christian Church. For then there was but one authority on
earth with which, as a competing jurisdiction, the disciples
of Christ had to do. But now there is Church beside
Church; the very face of Christendom wears a divided
aspect It therefore remains for all time a most instructive
and monitory fact, that when the Church of the New Testa-
ment was entering on its history, those who guided its
counsels had, in the face of existing authorities, to prosecute
their coiu^e under direct appeal to heaven ; and that it was
* precisely those who refused to examine, who gave them-
selves up with implicit faith to the guidance of their
Church, and relied absolutely upon the teaching of their
priests and their learned men, who rejected and crucified
the Lord of glory' (Cautions for the Times , p. no).

(2.) There is, however, another, a prophetical ground for
the line of procedure now under consideration, which serves
greatly to strengthen and confirm that which is derived firom
the history of the past For in the prophetic announcements
made by Christ and His apostles, the plainest intimations
were given of a coming degeneracy in the Christian Church,
not only warranting but most xurgently demanding a spuit
of faithfiilness on the part of true believers, and, in particu-
lar, of Christian pastors. It was not merely that single

^ Acts iv. 19.

32 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

individuals, or even scattered communities, were to give
way to doctrines and practices inconsistent with the tenor
of the gospel ; ^ but that there were to be false prophets or
teachers arising and gaining ascendancy, a general growth
and prevalence of iniquity, what one apostle represents as
a gigantic system of harlotry,^ carrying away multitudes in
the sweep of its abominations ; what another designates, by
way of eminence, the apostasy^ a huge and portentous back-
sliding from* the faith and purity of the gospel in the pro-
fessing Church, coupled with a defiant and persecuting spirit
toward those who should presume to question its authority.
With such pre-intimations respecting the future of the
Christian Church, interspersed also with the most solemn
charges and admonitions to watch against, the evil, to resist
it, nay, to come out and be separate from it, though at the
hazard of property and life, is it not the height of presump-
tion to quash all inquiry and consideration by pointing to
some ecclesiastical corporation, and sa)ring : ' There it is,
the very Church which was of old planted by evangelists
and apostles ; hear it.' It may be so, we reply, as to local
possession or hereditary descent ; there may be in one sense
an imbroken continuity; but those same evangelists and
apostles forewarned us that ^corruption was to mar their
handiwork, that it was to be infested by the spirit of error
and delusion, even as by a spreading plague ; and we are
expressly enjoined by them to consider whether the Church
which claims our homage be a Sardis or a Philadelphia,
the Lamb's bride or the whore, a Church which has kept
the faith and testimony of Jesus, or a Church which has
allied herself to the pride and carnality of the world. This
is necessarily a point for decision between Church and
Church ; and as those to whom the revelation of God has
come, we cannot escape from the responsibility of searching

^ Matt. xxiv. II, 12, 23, 24. • Rev. xvii. 4, 5, xviiL

3 2 Thess. ii. 3-10 ; I Tim. iv. 1-3 5 2 Tim. iil 1-7.

INTRODUCTION. 33

for ourselves, and determining where the truth lies, and
what part it calls us to take. For this purpose, among
others, that revelation has been committed to writing, and
handed down to us ; and as by it we shall ultimately be
judged, so by it we must now be guided, as well in regard
to our ecclesiastical as to our social and domestic relations.
Enough, however, for the present It would be out of
place to pursue the subject further here. Our object is not
to enter into a full discussion of it, but to lay do^Ti a few
fundamental principles upon it, with reference more especially
to the responsibilities and calling of those who are either
preparing for, or are actively engaged in, the pastoral office as
the great business of their lives. As matters actually stand,
divisions in the Church, even in its sounder portions, may
be held to be inevitable. Christian prayerfulness and effort,
it is to be hoped, will lessen their number, but still for
many a day they may be expected to exist ; and aspirants
to the ministry, as well as believers generally, have no alter-
native but to select a particular community in preference to
others as that with which to associate themselves in the
exercise of Christian privilege or the discharge of Christian
duty. But certain difficulties of a practical kind necessarily
arise out of this state of things touching one's relation to the
pastors and members of other evangelical Communions, and
the way and manner in which, with due regard to one's own
position, Christ's great law of love may still be effectively
maintained. A few reflections on this point may not un-
suitably close these preliminary discussions.

IV. The relation of Church to Church and pastorate to pas-
torate in connection with the great law of Christian love, —
It was, doubtless, clearly foreseen by our Lord that the
imperfections in faith and knowledge which should attach
to His people, and the entanglements amid which His

Church should have to make its way in the world, would

c

34 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

have the eiFect of originating formal diversities in outward
fellowship and government, even where there might be a
substantial agreement on all the great things of salvation.
Yet, in imposing His specific law of love, Christ made no
account of these prospective differences. Contemplating
His believing people through all time as standing in essen-
tially the same relation to Himself, He prayed that they
might be kept one in such a sense that the world might be
able to take knowledge of it,i and also charged them to love
one another simply as His disciples ; so to do it, that by this
very exercise and mutual interchange of love men might with
some degree of confidence discern them to be His disciples,
(i.) Now, amid the perplexities and embarrassments which
the present broken and divided aspect of the Christian
Church throws around the subject, especially for those who
are called to preside over its several and somewhat anta-
gonistic communities, there is a consideration which it is
important to bear in mind, and which so far relieves the
difficulty. It is this, that the interchange of love from
disciple to disciple, and, of course, also from Church to
Church, while enjoined quite generally by our Lord, is not
necessarily uniform, and could not have been meant to be
altogether uniform, either in its strength or in its manner of
exercise. It admits of preferences both as regards indi-
viduals and as regards Christian communities. Those who
are connected- with us by closer bonds, who hold more
intimate relationships to us than other men, are on that
account entitled to a more special place in our regard. The
providence of God has made them to us in a sense what
other men are not, and this calls for a corresponding degree
and exercise of aflfection. This implies, no doubt, a dis-
tinction in the fold of Christ, yet only a relative distinction,
and one for which we have the authority and example of
our Lord Himself. For while He loved all His disciples,

* John xvii. 21, 23 ; xiii. 34, 35.

INTRODUCTION. 35

there was one so peculiarly the object of His affectionate
regard, that he is called * the disciple whom Jesus loved.'
Hence, as the charge of our Lord to the disciples was to
love one another as He had loved them, it is perfectly
allowable and proper for them to make distinctions in their
love ; within the circle of one's own Communion there may
be a circle narrower still, a select few with whom we find
such congeniality of feeling, such harmony of spirit, such
mutual conformity of gifts and graces, that we are instinc-
tively drawn to them by the warmest affection. And if so
in respect to the members of one Communion, much more
in respect to that Communion as compared with others,
with which we are not visibly, however we may be really and
internally united, as partakers of one common salvation.

It never was the design of that grace which is exhibited
in the gospel to interfere with the constitution of the human
mind, or impose on it laws of working different from those
which it naturally obeys. On the contrary, it adapts itself
to these, and seeks to bring them into harmonious and
healthful operation. But there is nothing more certain or
uniform in regard to the emotional part of our natures than
that we are formed for particular attachments, with affec-
tions that settle upon one object or class of objects with
greater force and intensity than on others. We cannot,
even though we might wish to do so, love all persons alike ;
and it is no part of Christianity to oblige us to attempt it.
To be without hatred or malice toward any, to be ready to
repay evil with good, and show kindness even to the unde-
serving, this is an essential mark of a Christian spirit. But
it were no mark of such a spirit to be without special attach-
ments, or to confer no higher tokens of regard on some than
we do on others. One not only may but should love one's
own family otherwise than persons who live outside of it ;
the bonds and obligations of grace concur with the impulses
of nature to establish such a difiference. And, in like manner,

36 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

it is at once natural and dutiful to feel more deeply con-
cerned in the welfare of the particular communion to which
we belong, and to do more to promote its advancement in
all that is really good, than for others, though equally sound
and living branches of the true Church, only less intimately
known and related to us.

All this arises from the operation of that law of our
natures which requires that our feelings and affections, in
order to be strong, must be limited in their range of action.
If scattered over a multiplicity of objects, they necessarily
lose in intensity and force. It is therefore not to be re-
garded as any proof of sectarianism, or violation of this law
of Christian love, if we should think, pray, and labour more
for a particular Church, or for individual members of a
Church, than for others. Only care should be taken that
the good sought in this more special line may not be such
as to involve the manifestation of an unbrotherly spirit in
some other direction. The rights of Christian commimities,
as well as of single believers, must ever be respected.

(2.) There is still another distinction to be made, and in
that another principle of direction to be found, in respect
to the exercise of Christian love ; which is, that we are not
called by it to countenance or show ourselves indifferent to
any error or delinquency into which, whether as individuals
or as Churches, they may have fallen. Love rather requires
us to give a clear and unequivocal testimony against the evil,
and seek its removal. It was, doubtless, through an in-
firmity, a defection from the genUe and forbearing spirit of
the gospel, that Paul and Barnabas fell out between them-
selves, since in the matter of dispute no vital truth was at
stake. But it was no infirmity, it was a noble proof and
exhibition of love, when Paul withstood Peter to bis face at
Antioch for acting in a manner which tended to mislead
the disciples ; or when he rebuked the Churches of Galatia
for their weakness in suffering themselves to be withdrawn

INTRODUCTION. 37

from the simplicity of the faith, and the Corinthians for their
party strifes, and abuse of supernatural gifts of the Spirit

There may be sections of the Protestant Church so far
removed from what we take to be the proper ideal of a
Church of Christ in creed or government, that we could hold
no direct or ostensible fellowship with them. Fidelity to
the cause of truth and righteousness seems to require that,
in that respect, we should stand aloof; love itself compels
us to show, by the position we occupy, or the testimony we
at fitting times deliver, wherein we conceive them to be in
error ; and openly to fraternize with them might naturally
be construed into an indifference toward our points of dis-
agreement But if in such communities we meet with in-
dividuals who by their spirit and behaviour give evidence of
being true disciples of Christ, holding by the great principles
of His gospel, and living to the glory of His name, we
should then fail in our duty if we did not eye them with
affection, and declined to reciprocate the feelings of kind-
ness and goodwill which they may exhibit toward us. The
Master, as appears from their spirit and behaviour, has ac-
cepted them ; who are we, that we should dispute the pro-
priety of His choice, or disown the seal which He has put
upon them ? Though they will not follow with us, nor may
we follow with them in what is peculiar to us both, yet in
what is common, in what concerns the fundamental prin-
ciples of the faith in Christ, the repression of iniquity, the
advancement of righteousness in the world, it is in ac-
cordance with the spirit of the gospel that there should be
brotherly recognition, harmony of thought and action.

How much may not be learned in this respect from the
bearing and procedure of Christ Himself? The spirit of
love which was exemplified in His course was not more re-
markable for its depth and fervency in one direction than
for its tenderness and forbearance in another. Himself
the light of the world, in whom dwelt all the treasures

38 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

of wisdom and knowledge, there was necessarily an im-
measurable gulf between Him and those about Him as to
the degrees of knowledge and spiritual discernment respec-
tively possessed by them. There would have been so even
if the disciples had made the most diligent improvement of
their privileges ; but as matters actually stood, the distance
was much greater than it might have been. In spite of
Chrisf s endeavours to teach them, their notions of divine
things continued to be crude ; their minds remained full of
misapprehensions respecting the nature of His kingdom ;
and indications were ever and anon appearing of the carnal
tempers and sinful misgivings which cleaved to them. Yet
how meekly did Christ bear with them under all ! With
how gentle a hand did He try to remove from their minds
the clouds of darkness and prejudice which rested upon
them ! How gladly did He avail Himself of the opportunities
which arose to impart to them the truth as they were able
to receive it ! And, again, how considerately did He hold
His hand when He saw that they were incapable at the time
of receiving more ! Altogether, we have here most valuable
materials for our guidance, peculiarly valuable for the time
and circumstances in which we live. If the spirit of our
Lord's behaviour is imbibed, it will dispose us, whenever we
perceive the honest and childlike heart of faith, to bear with
much that may appear weak and defective ; and to be more
ready to convey instruction and dispense blessing, or should
that be impracticable, to make due allowance for personal
imperfections and failings, than in a feeling of actual or
fancied superiority to boast it over others. Were this but
more generally done, were the truth, without being less
firmly held, more frequently combined with the meekness
and gentleness, the patient and considerate spirit of Christ,
it might conciliate more hearts ; not the interests of the
truth, but rather those which are opposed to it, would suffer
by such line of behaviour.

THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 39

CHAPTER II.

THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE, AND THE CALL TO

ENTER ON ITS FUNCTIONS.

IT is only with some of the preliminary points bearing on
the office of the Christian pastorate that we have as yet
been occupied. We come now to the subject itself, which
naturally falls into a few leading divisions. Firsts there is
the nature of the pastoral office, with the consideration of
what constitutes a valid call to its functions and employ-
ments. Secondly^ the personal and social life befitting one
who undertakes the responsibilities and duties of such an
office. Thirdly^ its proper work, comprising : (i) homiletics,
or the composition and delivery of discourses ; (2) the
employment of subsidiary methods of instruction and coun-
sel ; (3) the devotional services of the sanctuary ; (4) the
administration of discipline ; (5) supplemental helps and
agencies, not strictly connected with the work of the
ministry, but having, in certain respects, an incidental bear-
ing on its operations or results. Under one or other of
these divisions every topic of importance relating to the
subject may be brought into consideration. And we take
that first which naturally precedes the others in the order of
discussion, the pastoral office itself, with the call to enter
on its functions.

I. The office viewed in relation to the persons in whose
behalf it is instituted, — This office has to do with the
oversight and care of souls, and by its very name im-

40 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

ports that ministers of the gospel are called to exercise
somewhat of the same fidelity and solicitude in behalf
of these, that shepherds are expected to do in respect
to their flocks. The names usually applied in Scripture
to the highest officers in the Christian Church carry much
the same import, though each with some specific shade
of meaning as to the primary aspect under which their
calling is contemplated. Those names are Trpco-^vrcpot and
iwla-KowoLy presbyters and bishops, or elders and overseers,
both alike involving the charge or duty of superintending
and consulting for the good of the religious community.
The more distinctive Greek term (cTr/o-icoTrot), even in its
primary or ciyil application, bore just this meaning. It
denoted a class of persons appointed to the work of in-
spection and responsible government in towns or provinces
subject to the parent state. And when transferred to a cor-
responding class in the Christian Church, it must have been
meant to convey the ideas of watchful vigilance and authori-
tative control. If the term e/i^ers may be regarded as having
originally borne respect to seniority of rank, as marked by
advance of years, when it came to be used as an official de-
signation, first in the S)magogue, then in the Church. It
denoted the heads of the religious community, the fathers
of the spiritual household. Both terms, therefore, pointed
rather to the exercise of authority, or to the ruling and
governing power, than to any other ministerial fimction.
They simply designated the men who were set over Christian
congregations as the guides and guardians of the flock,
who had to watch for its safety and welfare as those that
must give an account. And of the same import also is
another epithet employed — a description rather than a
designation, 6t -^ovfici/oC, the leading or ruling ones : * Re-
member them that have the rule over you.' ^

A form of expression, however, is occasionally used,

^ Heb. xiii. 7.

THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 4 1

which seems to point in the opposite direction, representing,
as it does, the work and calling of ministers under the notion
of a service, or, we may even say, of a servitude. Our Lord
had Himself employed this language : * Whosoever will be
great among you, let him be your minister (Sioicovos) ; and
whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant
(SovXo9, slavi) : even as the Son of man came not to be
ministered unto (Stoicony^afc), but to minister (Stoicoi^ctt),
and to give His life a ransom for many.' ^ The Apostle Paul
was peculiarly fond of this form of expression, and seems to
have considered it more distinctly indicative of his apostolic
or ministerial agency than any of those commonly applied
to the presidents or overseers of particular Churches : * Who,
then, is Paul,* he asks, * and who is Apollos, but ministers
(Suucovoi) through whom ye believed, as the Lord gave to
every man ? ' * * Christ Jesus our Lord hath enabled me, for
that He counted me faithful, putting me into the deaconship,'*
the ministerial employ. And speaking yet again of the
manner in which he conducted himself toward the Churches,
he gave no offence, he says, in anything,* * that the Sioicovta
(the ministerial office) might not be blamed.'

It is the same thing still, only presented under another
aspect, and with more immediate reference to the perform-
ance of work not directly connected with the exercise of
authority, though necessarily involving its possession, and its
exercise also, in so far as circumstances might render it
needful. Whatever special exercise Paul had to render in
his office as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is clear
from his epistles, that the light in which he chiefly delighted
to contemplate his calling was that of a cure of souls ; it
was his destination to minister to the perishing the bread of
life, and bring them to the possession of a saving interest in
Christ Therefore, when he seeks to magnify his office, it
is more especially with respect to the preaching of the

1 Matt XX. 28. • I Cor. iii. 5, » I Tim. L 12. * 2 Cor. vi. 3.

42 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

gospel that he does so. What he dwells upon is the com-
mission he received from the glorified Redeemer to proclaim
the unsearchable riches of His grace and goodness, and, in
the fulfilment of this commission, the labours he underwent,
the sufferings he endured, the efforts he plied, and the
measure of success he obtained. We can thus be at no
loss to imderstand what kind of service or ministry it was
that the apostle meant when he spake of his SLOKovCa in the
Lord ; in its more essential features it coincided with that
which has to be discharged by every faithful missionary and
minister of the word. Having for its object not merely the
bringing of sinners within the pale of salvation, but the con-
stituting of those so brought into an organized society, it
necessarily included the exercise of an administrative as well
as of a teaching function ; yet the teaching more directly and
prominently, as everything was to proceed in connection
with the knowledge and belief of the truth. This, in its
entire compass, belongs to the ministry of the word ; which
is, as Bucer notes, a ministeriuniy not a magisterium ; a ser-
vice, not a lordship; but a service founded on a divine
commission, and holding at command a sacred authority,
which it is permitted and even bound to employ whenever the
interests of truth and righteousness may seem to require it.

In apostolic times the primary object of concern was the
diffusion of the gospel, and the planting of churches conse-
quent on its propagation ; the oversight and government of
particular churches occupied but a secondary place. The
apostles gave hours to the one and only minutes to the
other. And though the same might be deemed fitting still,
if the matter were viewed with reference to the calling of
the Church generally toward the world, yet the proportion
comes nearly to be reversed wheji the pastoral ofl^ce is con-
sidered with respect to individual congregations. This,
indeed, is what is plainly implied in the instructions given
concerning it in the later epistles of the New Testament.

THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 43

The name itself of pastor is but once used there, namely
in Eph. iv. ii, where the discourse is of the gifts provided
and conferred by Christ for all official service and employ-
ment in the Christian Church, and where pastors and
teachers are mentioned among the persons who were in-
tended to share in the bestowal. If not the precise word,
however, the idea involved in it, and the relative obligations
and duties to which it calls, have expression given to them
elsewhere; as at Acts xx. 28, when St. Paul charges the
elders of the Church of Ephesus to ' take heed to them-
selves, and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost had
made them overseers, and to feed (Trot/xcttvctv) the flock of
God, which He hath purchased with His own blood;'
also at I Pet. v. 2, where the exhortation to feed the flock
of God is addressed by Peter as an elder in the universal
Church to all the elders of particular congregations ; and
for encouragement in the work points to the expected ap-
pearance of Christ as the chief Shepherd, who will give to
His faithful servants the unfading crown of glory. It was
the more natural for Peter to view the office in this light, as
it was the one in which our Lord presented the calling and
destination of the apostle, on the touching and memorable
occasion when, after dra,wing forth the confession of his
love. He gave to him the charge, * Feed my lambs,' * Feed
my sheep.' ^ And standing as Peter did on that occasion,
the representative, in a sense, not only of the select com-
pany of apostles, but of all in every age who should be
called to ply the work of an evangelical ministry, it is but
to enter into Christ's mind in the matter when they view the
work in the light of a pastorate, and regard themselves as
charged by Christ to care for and feed the sheep of His
pasture.

It is what may be called the interior side of the office
which this view of it most naturally suggests, its relation to

* John xxi. 15-17.

44 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

those who are already within the fold, nominally, at least,
the members of Christ's spiritual household. It was under
the same aspect that our Lord presented His own high
calling, in that , gospel which is pre-eminently inwkrds and
spiritual in its representations. He there speaks of Him-
self as the Shepherd, who knows His sheep, and is known
of them ;^ who even came to lay down His life on their
behalf, and who ever keeps them in the grasp of His
almighty hand. Yet, while in such representations of
Christ there was, in one point of view, a certain limitation,
in another there was a wide comprehension, far beyond
what at first might occur to the mind. If His eye excluded
from the range of its vision thpse who should ultimately
perish from the way of life, it at the same time included
all who might at any period be brought into that way ; not
the existing members merely of the fold, but one and all
who in the future ages of the Church's history, and from
whatever quarter, should come to have a place in it Such
intimate and comprehensive knowledge, however, is only
for the Chief Shepherd Himself, whose eye can discern the
things that are to be as clearly as if they already were. And
interpreting His words by the light reflected on it from His
own actual procedure, which is our pattern and rule, they
tell us of a love He cherished, a compassion He displayed^
a watchful and beneficent care He exercised toward many
who for the moment were far off from His peculiar people,
as well as those that were formally numbered in their ranks.
All, in some sense, belong to His flock, as forming part of
that creation-proprietorship which is His by inherent, in-
defeasible right ; only, in their natural state tiiey are in the
condition of lost sheep, and with multitudes the state of
nature becomes the fixed and abiding one ; so that they
cease to be reckoned of the flock in the stricter sense. But
it is firom the same lapsed and perishing mass that those

^ John X. 14.

THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 45

who became the true sheep have to be gathered ; all stand
originally on one footing ; and hence the work of Christ is
so many-sided, and bears in such diverse ways on the
responsibilities and interests of the world at large. Directly
and properly, it has a twofold object in view, aiming first
at the recovery of those who had gone astray, and then at
their establishment and growth in the life of holiness. To
turn enemies into subjects, aliens into children, sinners into
saints, this is its primary design ; and its further aim is to
keep those who have been so reclaimed from falling away,
and carrying forward their preparation for glory. As the
Shepherd, therefore, by way of eminence, Christ in His
pastorate as clearly goes forth to seek the lost, that they
may be brought into the fold of safety, as He ministers to
those who are already there what is required to sustain and
nourish them in the life of holiness.

The relation in which ministers of the gospel stand to
Christ puts it beyond a doubt that the pastoral office in their
hands was meant to be a kind of reflex or copy of His,
alike in respect to its general scope and aim, and the rela-
tive order of its ministrations. Here, also, the evangelistic
was ever to go along with, and in a sense precede, the
evangelical ; or, as we may otherwise put it, the ministry of
reconciliation must prepare for and accompany the ministry
of edification. And this firom the very nature and design of
the office, since men are nowhere bom members of the
spiritual flock of Christ. They have first to be made such,
and, when made, nourished with the sincere milk of the
word. And amid the manifold variety of fields and circum-
stances in which the pastoral office has to be discharged by
those who assume its responsibilities, it may sometimes be
the one, sometimes the other department of the work which
is entitled to the greatest prominence and application. But
both must always to some extent be the object of the pastor's
solicitude and endeavours.

46 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

Besides, while in any specific field of pastoral labour the
direct objects of its assiduities should be ever coming into
being as members of Christ's true flock, as well as growing
into maturity^ the whole together, pastor and flock, should
exercise a diflusive and regenerative influence around. They
should operate for good on the ungodly mass amid which
they are placed, not by any means exclusively, yet with a
more concentrated and sustained energy through the mini-
strations of the pastor himself. If the church to which he
ministers is set as a light in the world, he should be as the
lustre of that light, and should avail himself of every oppor-
tunity, and employ every means within his reach, to bring
the truth to bear with power upon the hearts and consciences
of sinners. In short, if the pastoral office more directly
contemplates the good of particular congregations, and in
these congregations the spiritual wellbeing and comfort of
Christ's true flock, it has respect also to an intermingling
or outlying portion, who have to be brought under the hus-
bandry of the gospel, with a view to their becoming children
of God and partakers of the blessing. Were it not for
operations of this sort, constantly proceeding and success-
folly plied, there should soon be no flock, in the proper
sense, to feed ; as, on the other hand, without due attention
to the work of feeding, the flock when found should want
its proper nourishment, and fail to grow up to * the measure
of the fulness of the stature of Christ.'

I shall advert presently to the relative importance and
the mutual interconnection of those two departments of
ministerial agency, and the methods best adapted for their
successful prosecution. But whichever of them may be
primarily regarded, whether it be the formation of a Chris-
tian flock, or the nourishment and growth of its members in
their most holy faith, the work itself which the Christian
pastor has to perform is always presented to our view in
Scripture as a service of love^ not as a vicarious mediation ;

THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 47

It IS a ministerial, not a priestly agency he has to ply ; and
the results aimed at, of course, must be of a reasonable
kind, such as may be expected to flow from an intelligent
apprehension of the truth as exhibited in the word and
ordinances of God, not what might be effected by any
mysterious charm or magical operation. In all that is said
concerning the office, in the words either of our Lord or of
His apostles, not a hint is dropped which would bespeak for
the ministers of the gospel the character of a secret-loving,
wonder-working priesthood. And when, a few centuries
after the gospel era, we light upon descriptions which
present them in such a character, one cannot but be sen-
sible of a huge discrepance between them and the represen-
tations of Scripture. It seems as if an essentially new office
had come into being, rather than the original office per-
petuated with certain slight modifications. Listen, for
example, to Chrysostom's description of what he calls the
glory of the Christian priesthood :^ *The priesthood, indeed,
is discharged upon earth, but it takes rank with heavenly
appointments, and deservedly does so. For this office has
been ordained not by a man, nor by an angel, nor by an
archangel, nor by any created power, but by the Paraclete
Himself, who has laid hold on men still abiding in the flesh
to personate the ministry of angels. And therefore should
the priest, as standing in the heavenly regions amid those
higher intelligences, be as pure as they are. Terrible, in-
deed, yea, most awful, were even the things which preceded
the gospel, such as the bells, the pomegranates, the stones
in the breastplate, the mitre, etc., the holy of holies, the
profound silence that reigned within. But when the things
belonging to the gospel are considered, those others will be
found little, and so also what is said concerning the law,
however truly it may be spoken : " That which was glorious
has no glory, by reason of that which excelleth." For when

* De Sac, iiL op. vol. i. p. 467.

48 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAI^ PASTOR.

you see the Lord that has been slain, and now lies before
you, and the priest bending over the victim, and interceding,
and all dyed with that precious blood, do you still reckon
yourself to be with men and still standing on the earth ? Do
you not rather feel transplanted into heaven, and, casting
aside all fleshly thoughts and feelings, dost thou not with thy
naked soul and thy pure mind behold the things of heaven ?
O the marvel ! O the philanthropy of God ! He who is
seated above with the Father is at that moment held by the
hands of all, and to those that are willing gives Himself to be
clasped and received ; all which they do through the eyes
of faith/ He then refers to the action of Elias on Carmel,
declaring that of the Christian priest to be much greater ;
and he asks : * Who that is not absolutely mad, or beside
himself, could slight so dreadful a mystery ? Are you igno-
rant that the soul of man could never have borne the fire
of such a sacrifice, and that all should have utterly perished
had there not been the mighty help of the grace of God ? '

Such was what constituted, in Chrysostom's view, the
peculiar glory of the Christian ministry ; and he proceeds in
the same magniloquent style to enlarge on the pre-eminent
dignity and power connected with it in its prerogative to
bind and to loose souls, to forgive or retain sins, to purge
men through baptism and other rites from all stains of pol-
lution, and send them pure and holy into the heavenly
mansions. All that is, of course, priestly work ; work in
which the officiating minister has something to offer for the
people, and something, by virtue of his office, to procure for
them; benefits, indeed, so great, so wonderful, so incom-
parably precious, that the typical ministrations of the old
priesthood, and the benefits accruing from them to the
people, were completely thrown into the shade. Now, this
is a view of pastoral work on which New Testament Scrip-
ture is not only silent, but against which it virtually pro-
tests. The service which it associates with] the ministry of

THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 49

the gospel is one that employs itself not with presenting a
sacrifice for men, but in persuading them to believe in a
sacrifice already offered, and through that promoting in
them a work of personal reconciliation with God, and grow-
ing meetness for His presence and glory. Hence the
ministry of the gospel as set forth in Scripture has the
revealed word of God in Christ for its great instrument of
working ; and according as this word is received in faith,
and brings forth in the lives of men the fruits of holiness,
the end of the ministry is accomplished.

In such a service there is, no doubt, a priestly element,
since it requires those who would perform it aright not only
to deal with men on behalf of God, but also to deal with
God on behalf of men, to accompany all their ministrations
of word and doctrine with intercessions at the throne of
grace. But it is a priestly element of the same kind as
belongs to the calling even of private believers, who are
bound to bear on their spirits before God the state of the
unconverted, and entj^eat Him for their salvation. And no
more in the one case than in the other is there anything of
that distinctive characteristic of the priestly function which
consists in formally sustaining a vicarious part, and doing
for others what they are not warranted or called to do for
themselves. The work of the Christian ministry, indeed, is
more nearly allied to the prophetical than to the priestly
office of the Old Testament ; and like it, too, it stands on
a higher elevation ; for it is a nobler thing to deal directly
with the spiritual realities of God's salvation, and by the
varied exhibition of these to wield an enlightening and
renovating influence on the souls of men, than to do the
part of performers in a merely outward, however imposing,
ceremonial Peter and his fellow-apostles on the day of
Pentecost displaying the banner which their Lord had given
them because of the truth, and bringing crowds of penitent
and willing captives to His feet, did a far higher service in

D

5© THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

the eye of reason than if they had acted as ministrants at
an altar where thousands of bleeding victims were pre-
sented, or were even for a whole lifetime sending up clouds
of incense from golden censers in a temple. And the same
may be said in a measure of every one who, like them, or
like the apostle of the Gentiles, is enabled through divine
grace to commend himself, by the manifestation of the
truth, to every man*s conscience in the sight of God. No
ministry is comparable to this, because none is fraught like
it with the elements of power and blessing.^

In regard, now, to the distribution of ministerial agency,
as between that which is devoted to the work of reclaiming
sinners and the work of edifying believers, the relations of
time and circumstance must determine. Nothing definite
respecting it has been indicfited in Scripture, nor can it be
done here. The actual state of matters differs so widely
with one pastor as compared with another, and even with
the same pastor in different localities, that the greater pro-
minence will naturally be given sometimes to the one
department of labour, sometimes to the other. If he has
reason to think that many around are dead in sin, and in
danger of sinking into perdition, he cannot but regard it as
a much more pressing business to have such rescued from
their peril, than that the others, who appear to be already
safe, should be plied with encouragements and supports to
continue in the path on which they have entered. On the
other hand, if spiritual life seems to be generally diffused
through the flock, to have this life quickened into greater

* So even Erasmus well remarks: *The minister is then in the very
height of his dignity, when from the pulpit he feeds the Lord's flock
with sacred doctrine* (Eccles, L. i). And referring to Paul's statement,
that Christ sent him not to baptize, but to preach, Stillingfleet justly
asks in his Irenicum : ' Shall we think that those who succeed him in
his office of preaching are to look upon anything else as more their
work than that ? '

THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 5 1

activity, and drawn forth into more abundant fruitfulness, will
naturally become the main object of his ministrations. But,
in reality, the two aims of the ministry run very much into
each other; and not unfrequently the means which are more
immediately directed toward the conversion of sinners will
be found of greatest service in strengthening the graces of be-
lievers ; as, inversely, what is intended to prompt some to the
higher attainments of faith and holiness may react with whole-
some influence on such as are still living in vanity and sin. \
There is no difficulty in understanding how this should be
the case. It always is owing to the dominion in some form
or another of the flesh and the world, that those who have
the root of the matter in them are impeded in their pro-
gress heavenwards, and are less active than they might
be in the service of their Redeemer. But it is only the
same thing in a yet higher degree which operates to the
danger of those who are altogether estranged from the way
of life ; and the means and appliances which are employed
to rouse these out of their perilous security, cannot but have
points of contact in the hearts and consciences of such as,
though partakers of the divine life, are still but imperfectly
subject to its power. It will even sometimes happen, that
individuals of this class may feel as if services of the kind
referred to had a special application to them, and they, more
almost than any others, had need to listen to the warnings
and admonitions which are addressed to the supine and
godless. On the other side, things said concerning the
faithful in Christ Jesus may strike a chord in the bosom of
men far off from righteousness : for, when such hear of the
privileges of true believers, of the desires, and feelings
awakened in their souls by the grace of God, of their blessed
nearness to God Himself, their zeal in well-doing, hope in
death, and meetness for eternity, how natural the reflection for
those who are still living after the course of a present world,
that all this belongs to a line of things to which they are entire

52 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

or comparative strangers, and that if they should continue
as they are, the shades of an irrecoverable death may over-
take them ! It is an undoubted fact, that some of those
whose ministrations have been most blessed to the conver-
sion of sinners, have also been most distinguished for the
deep spirituality and richly varied experience that have
characterized their services, though it cannot, perhaps, be
said to be quite common.

Indirectly, however, the same result is accomplished by a
ministry of this description, since the work of spiritual
nourishment and growth in the better portion of the com-
munity, in proportion as it is healthful and vigorous, will
ever be found conducive to the enlightenment and reforma-
tion of the classes which lie beyond. If the members
generally of a Christian Church are full of faith and of the
Holy Ghost, if their conversation and their conduct are
deeply imbued with the earnest, generous, and blessed spirit
of the gospel, they will assuredly be to many around them
' as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass.* ^
The careless and ungodly with whom they come in contact
will be constrained to feel that there is a reality and a
power in the life of faith which bespeaks its connection
with a higher world ; so that, as in the case of the Thessa-
lonian converts, the word of the Lord will be ever soimding
forth with convincing and refreshing power to others. And
every successful effort that is made for the perfecting of
the saints is also a train laid for the breaking asunder of
spiritual bonds, and recovering from the snare of the devil
those who are led captive by him.

But, in such matters, much must always depend on indi-
vidual temperament and personal gifts. Some are more
peculiarly qualified by nature, as well as by the special work
of grace in their own souls, for producing convictions of sin ;
others for guiding those who have been convinced to peace

1 Mic. V. 7.

THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 53

in believing, and progress in the Christian life. And it is
in accordance with the highest wisdom, that each should lay
himself out chiefly in the kind of work for which his talent
is the greatest, and should even seek for such a field of
ministerial labour as may admit of its being employed to
most advantage. If one may refer to the Puritan period
for examples, it is plain that such men as Owen and Howe
would find their most appropriate sphere in ministering to
congregations which as a rule were not only settled in the
faith, but were capable also of receiving and relishing the
strong meat of the gospel ; although it were not easy to find
more solemn and stirring appeals to slumbering consciences
than appear occasionally in their extant discourses. It is
equally plain, that the next two most distinguished Puritans,
Richard Baxter and John Bunyan, both fi-om their native
cast of mind, and the spiritual training through which they
passed, were more especially fitted for the work of rousing
dormant consciences, and moving sinners to flee from the
wrath to come. The effects in this line actually wrought
through their instrumentality were certainly of the most
marked description. And the account which Baxter him-
self gives in the Reformed Pastor of the reasons which pre-
vailed with him to aim mainly at the conversion of sinners,
and to prosecute this aim with the most intense eagemess,
are well deserving of the serious consideration of all who
are either looking forward to pastoral work, or are actually
engaged in it : —

* Alas,' says he, 'the misery of the unconverted is so great
that it calleth loudest to us for our compassion. He that
seeth one man sick of a mortal disease, and another only
pained with the toothache, will be moved more to compas-
sionate the former than the latter, and will surely make more
haste to help him, though he were a stranger, and the other
a son. It is so bad a case to see men in a state of damna-
tion, wherein, if they should die, they are remedilessly lost,

54 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

that methinks we should not be able to let them alone,
either in public or in private, whatever other work we have
to do. I confess I am forced frequently to neglect that
which should tend to the greater increase of knowledge in
the godly, and may be called stronger meat, because of the
lamentable necessity of the unconverted. Who is able to
talk of controversies or nice unnecessary points ? yea, or
truths of a lower degree of necessity, how excellent soever,
while he seeth a company of ignorant, carnal, miserable
sinners before his face, that must be changed or damned ?
Methinks I see them entering on their final woe. Methinks
I even hear them crying out for help, and speediest help.
Their misery speaks the louder, because they have not hearts
to seek or ask for help themselves. Many a time have I
known that I had some hearers of higher fancies, that looked
for rarities, and were addicted to despise the minister, if he
told them not more than ordinary : and yet I could not find
in my heart to turn firom the observation of the necessities
of the impenitent for the honouring of these, nor to leave
speaking to the apparently miserable for their salvation, to
speak to such novelists ; no, nor so much as otherwise
should be done to the weak for their confirmation and
growth in grace. Methinks, as St. Paul's spirit was stirred
within him when he saw the Athenians so addicted to
idolatry, so it should cast us into one of his paroxysms to
see so many men in great probability of being everlastingly
imdone. And if by faith we did indeed look upon them as
within a step of hell, it should more effectually untie our
tongues, than, they tell us, that Croesus* danger did his son's.
He that will let a sinner go to hell for want of speaking to
him, doth set less by souls than the Redeemer of souls did,
and less by his neighbour than rational charity will allow
him to do by his greatest enemy. Oh therefore, brethren,
whomsoever you neglect, neglect not the most miserable !
Whoever you pass over, forget not poor souls that are imder

THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 55

the condemnation and curse of the law, and may look every
hour for the dreadful execution, if a speedy change do not
prevent it ! '

Considerations like these will undoubtedly weigh much
with all preachers of the gospel, who are animated by the
true spirit of their office, and alive to its great responsibilities.
Yet there is no need, even when such is the case, that con-
version should be always thrust prominently forward, as if it
were the one concern the faithful pastor had to mind. It
will often be fiU in the tone and manner in which the par-
ticular subjects are handled, rather than discovered in the
choice of the subjects themselves. For there is such a
manifold variety in the states of unconverted men, their
degrees of guilt, and the kinds of deceitfulness with which
it is accompanied ; such endless diversities exist as to the
temper and habit of their minds, the avenues by which the
springs of thought and feeling may best be reached, and the
appeals that may be most likely to carry their decision for a
life of piety, that it is proper to bring into play a correspond-
ing variety of means of moral suasion ; and nothing, perhaps,
in the whole revealed counsel of God, if wisely handled, may
be excepted from the things calculated to effect the desired
end. At the same time, it is not to be doubted, that persons
who have in a strong degree the bent of soul, and the gifts,
natural and acquired, which are more peculiarly adapted
to the work of spiritual conviction, will generally find the
greatest aptitude and success in handling the topics which
do most directly bear upon the object in view. The Spirit
of God within men, and the teaching of their own experience,
must be their principal guide. But as regards the work
itself, the work of winning souls from sin to Christ, if any
are successful in accomplishing it, whether by the use of
a more extensive and varied or of a more limited range
of materials, blessed are they, even above other faithful
labourers in the Lord's vineyard. For the highest place of

56 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

honour there, and the noblest heritage of blessing connected
with its labours, must ever belong to those who have been
the instruments under God of saving souls from death, and
turning the disobedient to the wisdom of the just It was a
fine saying of Samuel Rutherford's, ' Heaven would be two
heavens for me, if souls given me as seals were found there.'

II. The pastoral office viewed in respect to its higher retor
tions, — The preceding observations have had respect to the
nature and responsibilities of the pastor's vocation chiefly
on one side, in its relation to those in whose behalf it is
exercised. But there is another and higher relation which
it also holds ; for, considered as the ministry of reconcilia-
tion, it is of the nature of an embassy, and implies a com-
mission from Heaven ; considered as a cure of souls, it is
stewardship, and involves a sacred trust, of which an
account must be rendered; considered, finally, as the
instrumental agency for regenerating souls and preparing
them for glory, it is a work of God, and requires the pos-
session of gifts which He alone can bestow. These are the
higher aspects of the pastoral office, its points of contact
with the sanctuary above ; and it is of importance, both for
obtaining a right view of the office itself, and for the pre-
servation of the right spirit in discharging its functions, that
it be looked at also in this higher relationship.

(i.) Considered, first of all, as a ministry of reconciliation,
and implying a commission firom Heaven, the original charge
of our Lord to His apostles, to go and preach the gospel to
every creature, lays for it a sure and abiding foundation.
It was obviously impossible that those immediately ad-
dressed could do more than make a commencement in the
execution of such a wide commission. The charge delivered
primarily to them must necessarily go down as a descending
obligation to future times, and is virtually laid upon all who
in a right spirit and a becoming manner undertake the

THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 57

duties of the pastoral office. Hence the Apostle Paul,
speaking not in his own name merely, but in that of all who,
like himself, were sincerely preaching the gospel, says, ' We
are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you
by us : we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to
God.'^ And the ministry generally he calls ' the ministry
of reconciliation,' as having for its more immediate and
primary object the pressing upon them of God's message of
love, the reception of which would close their alienation
from God, and secure their entrance on a state of peace and
fellowship. Having such an aim, and an aim to be accom-
plished through so vast a field, it was indispensable that
the message itself, and the right to deliver it, should turn
upon no nice technicalities or ecclesiastical punctilios,
but should be of a plain, broad, and reasonable character.
And so, indeed, they are as presented to us in the word of
God. For, while the Church is there most 'distinctly and
solemnly charged with the mighty task of reclaiming the
world to the saving knowledge and love of God, she is
trammelled with no minute forms and rubrics as to the
specific mode of carrying it into effect ; she is left with a few
simple directions and ordinances of divine appointment, to
proceed as circumstances of time and place might suggest
or require. And the terms of the embassy to be put into
the mouth of all her official representatives are just the
great facts and promises of Christ's salvation. There for all
times and all lands- is the sum and substance of the pastor's
commission. Not in any new or more special communica-
tion from heaven, but in that revelation which has been
delivered to the Church by apostles and prophets, lies the
burden of. everlasting weal, with its fearful alternative of
woe, which he goes forth to deliver in the hearing of his
fellow-men, and press on their regard ; the only thing, indeed,
suited to his purpose and to the necessities of those with

^ 2 Cor. V. 20.

58 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

whom he has to deal. So that the grand rule here is, as the
apostle puts it, * If any man speak, let him speak as the
oracles of God ; ' for therein alone is contained the revelation
of Heaven's counsel to fallen and sinful men, and the only
sure grounds on which they can hope for acceptance and
blessing.

(2.) Considered more strictly, in the second place, as a
cure of souls, the pastoral office involves a stewardship,
a stewardship of most grave responsibility, for it has en-
trusted to it the oversight of treasures of inestimable value.
The flock themselves are such a treasure, seeing that in
every one of them there resides a soul capable alike of the
highest enjoyment and of the deepest misery. To be set
in a position of official superintendence and ministerial
agency in respect to these, is plainly to be invested with the
highest of all earthly stewardships. But add to this the
consideration also of the means furnished for meeting the
wants of the flock, the treasures of spiritual knowledge, and
life, and blessing which, in their behalf, are placed at the
pastor's command, that he may give to all their food in due
season. What a thought, to be constituted the dispensers
of such imperishable treasures ! No doubt the treasures
are in a sense common, open to the members of the flock,
apart from any human instrumentality ; open to all who are
willing to search the Scriptures, and, in accordance with the
tidings they convey, to make personal application for them
through the blood of atonement There^ unquestionably, is
the ultimate authority for everything that is either offered
or received in the matter of salvation. Still, it is through
the ministrations of word and ordinance, as connected with
the labours of the pastoral office, that usually the treasures
of divine grace and truth are unfolded, an'd made practically
available to the ever-varying conditions of men. Hence
the word of our Lord, spoken in answer to a question from
Peter, but spoken with reference to all who might be called

THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 59

to pastoral work, 'Who then is that faithful and wise
steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household,
to give them their portion of meat in due season ? Blessed
is that servant, whom his lord, when he cometh, shall find
so doing.* ^ In another passage they are likened by Him to
persons who are provided by their Master with spiritual
treasures, and should be ever bringing forth firom them
things new and old ; ^ as also by St Paul they are designated
stewards of the mysteries, or hidden riches of God's wisdom,'
which, as he again expresses it, are put like heavenly treasure
into earthen vessels.* What an honourable position ! And,
at the same time, what a high calling ! The special keepers
and dispensers of Heaven's peculiar treasure ! The living
conduits of that divine word which God Himself delights to
magnify above all His name !

(3.) The office has still again to be considered as a work,
a work of God, by means of which those naturally dead in
sin are made alive to God, and carried forward on the way
to glory ; a work, we may say, impossible, unless divine in-
fluences come in aid of its accomplishment. Every work
calls for the application of powers suited to its nature ; by
such alone can it be successfully managed ; and as this par-
ticular work belongs to the new creation, it can only be
made good if the earthen vessels engaged in effecting it
have * the excellency of power,' which comes from God.
Here, especially, the great truth holds, * Not by might, nor
by power (viz. of man) ; but by my Spirit, saith the Lord.*
Hence, when unfolding the gospel commission to His
disciples, and pointing as well to the duties as the trials
connected with the work, Christ gave such express assurance
to them, that He would be with them even to the end of the
world," and would obtain from the Father, in answer to
beUeving prayer, whatever might be needed for the service

^ Luke xii. 42, 43. • Matt. xiii. 52. * i Cor. iv. I.

* 2 Cor. iv. 7. * Matt, xxviil 18-20.

6o THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

required at their hands.^ St. Paul also refers to this plenitude
of spiritual gifts for pastoral duty, and the readiness of Christ
to bestow them, presenting it as the immediate result of His
personal glorification : ' When He ascended up on high, He
led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.^ And He
gave some apostles (that is, the grace needed to fit them for
doing the work of apostles), and some prophets, and some
evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting
of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of
the body of Christ' It is not properly of the distinction of
offices in the New Testament Church that the apostle is
here speaking, but of the distribution of gifts in connection
with the discharge of office, and of all kinds of ministerial
service. So far as office was concerned, apostles and
prophets might be both one ; and, indeed, the highest kind
of prophecy proceeded only from Christ and His apostles.
Pastors and teachers, in like manner, might be, and doubt-
less were for the most part in the apostolic Church, as well
as now, officially one. But whether united in the same
person, or existing and exercised apart, the work itself
proper to the parties so engaged, having to do with divine
operations and results, necessarily required divine help for
its successfiil performance ; and it was then, and even is, oiie
of the great ends of Chrisf s mediation in the heavenly places
to bestow the requisite gifts on those whom He calls to the
work. So that, as in their spiritual husbandry they are fel-
low-workers with God, they have in the promised supply of
those gifts of the Spirit the link of connection between the
human instrumentality and the efficient power.

Rightly viewed, therefore, the work of the Christian pas-
torate is a kind of continuation of the agency of Christ,
carried on through the instrumentality of a divinely aided
as well as humanly ordained ministry. It bespeaks, in every
faithful discharge of duty, and every saving effect produced,
1 John xvi. 23, xiv, 12, 13. * Eph. iv. 8, 11, 12.

THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 6 1

Christ's gracious presence, and mediatorial fulness of life
and blessing. And at every step in his ministerial course
the true servant of Christ will have reason to say, * Not I,
but the grace of God that is in me ! Whatever fitness I
may have for the work, and whatever good I may be the means
of accomplishing in it, is the fruit of what I have received.'
The thought on one side is humbling ; for it calls the pastor
to regard himself as simply an instrument, and to renounce
all claim to the glory. Yet, on the other side, how ele-
vating ! since it places him in immediate fellowship with the
LiOrd of glory, and sets the stamp of heaven on what would
otherwise have been marked only by human impotence and
corruption.

III. The call to enter on the pastoral office; what properly
constitutes it. — The view which has just been given of the
higher aspects of the pastoral office, while throwing around
it a certain elevation from the connection it thus appears to
hold with the spiritual and divine, serves at the same time
to aggravate the difficulty of the question, what should be
regarded as constituting a proper call to the office ? and how
may particular individuals ascertain whether it has actually
been received? Contemplated even on its human side,
with respect simply to the oversight, responsibility, and
anxious labour connected with it, there is much, un-
doubtedly, that is fitted to inspire awe, and awaken earnest
inquiry and solicitude, in the mind of any one who desires
to have his path cleared regarding it But how much more
when the higher relations of the office are taken into
account ; when it is seen to touch at so many points on the
special gifts and operations of Godhead ! How may it, in
such a case, with certainty, or even with some measure of
probability, be concluded that the requisite qualifications
and conditions for the office meet in any one ?

There are cases ever and anon occurring, in which no

62 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

difficulty of this kind exists; the question, in a manner,
solves itself; for the experiences of the individual soul
carry along with them a self-convincing and determining
power. * There are decisive hours in which a man feels the
germ of a new vocation bursting forth in him ; a world all
at once opens to his mind, and, seized with a passion im-
perious as the very voice of God, he takes upon his con-
science the engagement to pursue the work, which is
henceforth to be the end of his life.* So a late editor of
Pascals Thoughts (Faugere) says of him, and men of like
religious impulse ; and what was true of Pascal, as the
thinker and representative of an earnest religious party, has
its exemplification also in persons with reference to the
work of the ministry. The operation of divine grace upon
their souls, coupled perhaps with something in the native
bent of mind, has been such, so marked and peculiar, that
they feel moved with decisive energy to give themselves to
this sacred calling. Of such, therefore, there is no need to
speak here ; the point is virtually settled already.

With respect, however, to others who have not the ad-
vantage of such marked experiences in their mental history,
the way to a right determination of the question may be
considerably smoothed, by taking properly into account the
relation which the special calling of a pastor has to the
general calling of a believer. It is a fundamental principle
in Christianity, that there is nothing absolutely peculiar to
any one who has a place in the true Church. Among its
genuine members there is room only for relative distinctions,
or for differences in degree, not in kind. It is a consequence
of the vital union of true believers to Christ, by virtue of
which there belongs to all alike the same spiritual standing,
the same privileges and prospects, and, as a matter of
course, the same general obligations of duty. If every
sincere Christian can say, * I am one with Christ, and have a
personal interest in all that is His,* there can manifestly be

THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 63

no essential difference between him and other believers ;
and whatever may distinguish any one in particular, either
as regards the call to work, or the capacity to work in the
Lord's service, it must in kind belong to the whole com-
munity of the faithful, or else form but a subordinate charac-
teristic. The ministry itself, in its distinctive prerogatives
and functions, is but the more special embodiment and ex-
hibition of those which pertain inherently to the Church as
Christ's spiritual body. And the moment any one recog-
nises himself to be a living member of this body, it thence-
forth becomes, not his right merely, but his bounden duty,
to consider what part of its collective responsibilities lie at
his door, or what department of its common vocation he
should apply himself in some specific manner to fulfil.
Bring the principle here laid down into connection with the
Christian ministry under any one of the aspects already pre-
sented, and you will readily perceive that fundamentally
the ministerial vocation links itself to that of the simple
believer ; they differ only as a development may differ firom
the germ, or a higher and more intensive from a simpler and
commoner mode of operation.

Let the ministry, for example, be considered in respect to
the testimony it has to bear, or the message it has to deliver,
in the name of God before men. This is certainly a very
prominent part of the ministerial calling ; and yet it is by
no means peculiar to those who have been formally destined
to the office. There are, we may say, various gradations
belonging to it In the highest degree it belonged to tlie
Lord Jesus Christ, who came into the world, as He Himself
says, to bear testimony to the truth by revealing it, and as
so revealed sealing it with His blood. His apostles next,
as His immediate representatives and delegates to the world,
were sent forth to declare authoritatively, and for all time,
the truth which He had partly taught them, and partly
revealed to them by His Spirit, that there might be a suffi-

64 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

cient and infallible testimony concerning it with the Church.
But has not the Church also, the community of believers as
such, to take up what has thus been delivered, and bear it
forth to the world ? It is of the Church, as composed of
those who know and believe the truth, that our Lord has
said, *it is the light of the world;' ^ and the apostle, that
* it is the pillar and ground (or basement) of the truth/* To
this Church there has been given a banner, that it might be
displayed because of the truth ; ^ and it is the duty of every
faithful member, ih his own place and sphere, to witness for^
that truth by word and deed. Here, in fact, lies the very
essence of the trial and triumph of their faith, which con-
sists in standing practically as well as doctrinally to the
testimony for the truth of God ; and for holding not their
lives dear to them, that they might faithfully acquit them-
selves of this obligation, the martyrs of the Church obtained
at once their name and their crown. When, therefore, a
ministry is appointed for the special purpose of unfolding
the testimony of Christ, and pressing its overtures of grace
and love on the acceptance of men, it is not to be regarded
as something altogether by itself ; it is only a more full,
regular, and systematic exhibition of the testimony which
the Church is called, individually and collectively, to main-
tain and make known.

The same remarks may in substance be applied to the
SuucovCa, or active service, which is required of the pastor
for the behoof of others. Christ Himself, as formerly noted,
gave the first and highest exemplification of it in New
Testament times. From Him it devolved on the apostles,
who were severally required to give proof of their apostle-
ship, by their readiness to serve after the pattern of their
Master, and whose respective places in His kingdom were
to be determined by the comparative amount of humble,
earnest, and devoted labour imdergone by them.* Yet it

^ Matt. V. 14. " I Tim. iii. 15. ' Ps. Ix. 4, * Matt. xx. 25-28.

THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 65

does not rest there, nor with those who, subsequently to the
apostles, might be called to bear office in the Church. The
members of the Christian Church are also called, according
to their opportunities, to serve : — ^in prayers, in alms-deeds,
in works of righteousness, in strivings against sin, in bowels
of compassion, in brotherly admonitions, in ministrations of
knowledge among the young and ignorant, and visits of
kindness, or acts of beneficence among the distressed and
destitute. The measure of what people can do in such
things is the measure of their obligations (* she did what she
could'*) \ and in so far as any professing Christian neglects
or comes short of them, he does so in violation of the
claims and responsibilities under which he is placed by his
relation to Christ. All have some gifts to be used in His
service, and for the good of their fellow-men, only * differing
according to the grace that is given to them ; ' and, as a rule,
they should be both most fully possessed and most fruit-
fully exercised by the Church's pastors, because in them the
calling and obligations of the spiritual community naturally
find their highest exemplification.

Nor is it otherwise in respect to the higher aspects of the
ministerial office, its connection with the sanctuary above ;
for wherever the Christian really exists, that connection must
exist also. The Church collectively is the habitation of the
Spirit ; so is the individual believer. The works which, as
a believer, he is called to do in order to make his calling
and election sure, must be works of God ; and for one and
all of them he needs the illuminating and strengthening
agency of the Holy Spirit. No Christian parent within the
private walks of domestic life can fulfil his obligations in
regard to the godly upbringing of his children ; no Christian
philanthropist, yearning over the miserable and degraded
multitudes around him, can discharge the labours of love,
which the mercies of God in Christ impel him to undertake
in their behalf; no solitary individual even, warring in his

£

66 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

personal experiences with the solicitations of the flesh and
the powers of evil in the world, can resist, and stand fast,
and do the will of God, — except by receiving gifts of grace
to qualify him for the work, and to render the work itself
serviceable to the end toward which it is directed. In short,
all who would move in the Christian sphere, and in any of
its departments would serve their generation according to
the will of God, must stand in living connection with the
heavenly world. Their calling as the Lord's servants war-
rants them to expect, and, if they succeed in that calling,
their success proves them to have received, grace for spiritual
work ; in which respect, therefore, they are vessels of honour
fitted for the Master's use, and partakers of the blessing.

Such, then, being the case in regard to the Church as a
whole, the question as to a man's personal vocation to the
Christian ministry is merely an application of the general to
the particular. It narrows itself to the point, whether he has
reason to consider it to be the will of God, that in addition
to the ordinary obligations resting on him as a believer, he
should undertake the special obligations, cognate in their
nature, yet more arduous and exacting in their discharge,
of the Christian pastor. It is not, strictly speaking, whether
he is to enter into another sphere, or assume a relation alto-
gether different to the Spirit and the cause of Christ ; but
whether he would have himself more closely identified with
this cause, and for the sake of it cultivate more earnestly the
higher gifts and endowments of the Spirit than is done even
by the major part of genuine believers. In a word, the
question resolves itself into the consideration, whether he
has the capacity and the will, the faculties of nature and the
endowments of grace, which, if duly cultivated and em-
ployed, -might reasonably be expected to render him more
serviceable to the interests of righteousness in the peculiar
service of the ministry, than in the common service of the
Christian life.

THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 67

When the matter comes to be examined in this light,
there will very rarely be found much practical difficulty
among earnest inquirers in arriving at a proper conclusion
on the subject It may very readily be otherwise if the
correct relation of the Christian ministry to the Christian
community is wrongly apprehended or virtually ignored, as
indeed is not unfrequently the case. It is not unnatural
for the mind, when first turning its thoughts in this direction,
to look at pastoral work in too isolated a light, as having, all
in a manner peculiar to itself, little or nothing in common
with that which enters into the calling of members of the
flock. By striking too low an estimate of this general call-
ing, or for the time leaving it out of view, the mind gets
perplexed with difficulties regarding its right to intermeddle
with the higher vocation. The way cannot but appear to
some extent relieved of those difficulties if it is distinctly
understood that the primary and fundamental obligations
are the same for the true believer as for the Christian pastor.
In both cases alike the soul that is properly enlightened
about the things of God, and earnestly desirous to fulfil
aright its part concerning them, will feel that it has sub-
stantially the same gracious privileges to handle, the same
principles of life to follow out, the same vital connection
with the Spirit to maintain. And with this for a starting-
point, it has merely to consider whether it may not be war-
ranted, or even bound to go on to what further is involved
in the destination and duties of the pastorate.

It is clear, then, that all just and proper inquiries on this
point must proceed on one assumption ; they must take
for granted the personal Christianity of the inquirer as the
essential basis and prerequisite for all that belongs to a
living and divinely-constituted ministry. He who has not
yet been called of God to the common work of a believer
cannot possibly have a call to the distinctive work of a
pastor. One who is himself a stranger to grace can be in

6S THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

no proper condition to act as a chosen vessel and instru-
ment of grace ; he cannot even cordially enter into and
sympathize with the objects toward which the ministry of
grace is directed. The connection between the common
and the special in this respect was forcibly put by the well-
known Mr. Robert Bruce, in relation to his own case : * I
was first called to my grace before I obeyed my calling to
the ministry : He made me first a Christian before He made
me a minister.* And then, as to the necessity of the per-
sonal work of grace for the proper exercise of the ministerial
calling : * If the Spirit be not in me, the spirit of the hearer
will discern me not to be sent ; but only to have the word of
the commission, and not the power,^ It is therefore in-
dispensable that those who would have any satisfaction as
to their call to the ministry, and any blessing in the work
when actually engaged in it, should have some reasonable
evidence of their own interest in the salvation of Christ, and
personal surrender to the claims of the gospel * We be-
lieve, and therefore speak ; ' such is the divine order.

But even when evidence exists of a work of grace in the
heart, there may still be defects and hindrances which
practically serve to place a barrier in the way, the absence
of which must also be presupposed as an indispensable
condition to a real call. For, considering the position
which a pastor has to occupy, the amount of intellectual
and exciting labour he has to undergo, and the share which
public discourse must have in his ministrations, there are
various things of a natural kind which may act as virtual
disqualifications, — obstructions raised by the hand of God in
providence against this particular way of serving Him, —
such as physical inability, nervous temperament, defect of
voice, feebleness of intellect, incapacity for continued study,
want of literary acquirements, and other things of a like
nature. Disadvantages of this sort may create difficulties
which it is impossible to overcome, or which may at least

THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE, 69

Stand in the way of any reasonable prospect of the indi-
vidual to whom they belong serving God more accept-
ably, or yielding more benefit to the interests of religion,
by devoting himself to the work of the ministry, than by
occupying a sphere in private life. Here, therefore, there is
room for calm and thoughtful consideration, sometimes for
iiiendly counsel and advice, as well as for earnest prayer ;
since, in such cases, neither personal desire nor what are
called providential openings can be regarded as sufficient
grounds of action. * What some call,' said John Newton
justly, * providential openings, are often powerful tempta-
tions; the heart in wandering cries, " Here is a way opened
before me;" but perhaps it is not to be trodden, but rejected.'
It is impossible, however, to lay down any definite rules
which would be generally applicable ; for the disqualifpng
circumstances themselves exist in such various forms and
degrees, and the spheres of ministerial labour also differ
so widely in the comparative demands they make alike
for bodily and mental qualifications, that gifts quite in-
adequate to some, or even to most situations, might yet
suffice for a fair amount of acceptable and useful labour in
others. There can be no doubt that, however desirable a
hdppy constitution of body and mind may be, however
necessary superior powers in both respects for filling the
more arduous and prominent positions in the Chiurch, yet
comparatively moderate talents, and talents accompanied
with marked bodily weaknesses or defects, when thoroughly
sanctified and diligently used, have been honoured to do
much effective service in the more retired fields of Christian
labour. The first-called labourers in the Lord's vineyard
were manifestly of very diverse grades in respect to those
natural qualifications of mind and body. In variety and
fulness of mental powers, as well as general culture, none
of them appear to have approached the Apostle to the
Gentiles; while he, again, laboured under certain bodily

70 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

ailments or defects ; and Peter, James, and John seem to
have considerably surpassed the other members of the
apostolic band. Yet the Lord had work for them all. He
did not reject the weaker on account of the stronger ; they
too had their proper place, though a somewhat humbler
one, in the field of apostolic agency. On matters of this
description, therefore, I go no further than to suggest the
wisdom of prayerful consideration and friendly advice,
coupled with a readiness to submit to the application of
those tests which in well-constituted Churches are employed
to ascertain whether candidates for the ministry possess the
gifts which, in ordinary circumstances, may warrant them
to count upon some measure of success in pastoral work.

But supposing no hindrance should present itself on the
preliminary points now indicated ; supposing one has to all
appearance become a partaker of the grace of God, and,
along with a fair measure of natural talent, to possess also
a competency of other qualifications, there yet usually is
room for a certain regard being had to considerations of
a circumstantial kind, considerations arising mainly from
one's training and position in life, which may of themselves
go far to exercise a determining influence. Such, undoubt-
edly, and of the most decisive character, were the circum-
stances which marked the early career of the apostles and
many others of the original heralds of the gospel, who, from
their historical position with reference to Christ, or to the
movements of His kingdom, were singled out as by the
finger of Heaven for the work of the ministry. Those cir-
cumstances were, no doubt, in many respects peculiar, and
nothing like a formal repetition of them can now be looked
for ; yet, at the same time, what then took place may in
principle^ however in point of form diversified, occur at any
time, and is in a manner sanctioned for all times. There
has often been since, and there may quite readily be ex-
pected in the case of particular individuals, such a direction

THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 7 1

or concurrence of things in providence as may be sufficient
to constitute a distinct call to the Christian ministry ; nay,
even to do it when the individuals themselves might have
some cause for hesitation or doubt In proof of this, and
as affording a most striking exemplification of the principle
in question, we can point to the case of one of the greatest
men who have filled the pastoral office in later times, that,
namely, of John Calvin. It was some time after he had
embraced the Reformed cause, and had published the first
edition of his InsiiiuteSy — a clear and lucid exhibition of
Christian feith and practice even in that form, but a brief
and imperfect production compared with what it ultimately
became. He had not, however, as yet resolved to devote
himself to the work of the ministry ; and was on his way
from Italy, where he had been on a visit to the Duchess of
Ferrara, to some place in Germany suitable for the further
prosecution of his studies. He took Geneva on his route,
intending only to spend in it a night or two, as he has him-
self informed us in the Preface to his Commentary on the
Psalms, But his arrival becoming known to Farel, who
was at the time labouring in Geneva, and who burned with
an incredible zeal for the propagation of the Protestant
faith, that Reformer determined to secure, if possible, the
co-operation of Calvin in the great work, and went to him
with an earnest entreaty that he would remain where he
was. Calvin endeavoured to excuse himself, and said he
could not yet think of attaching himself to any particular
community; but was desirous of continuing his studies some
time longer, yet with the intention of making himself usefiil
to the Reformed cause, wherever he might for the time
reside. On this Farel betook, as Calvin expresses it, to
execration, and addressed him in the following strain : —
* Now I declare to you in the name of Almighty God, since
you are taking your studies only for a pretext, that if you do
not give us your help in this divine work, God*s curse will

72 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

rest upon you, as you are seeking not so much Christ's
glory as your own/ This speech, Calvin states, struck such
a terror into his soul, that he durst not carry out his original
intention; he felt constrained to abide in Geneva, *as if
God had by an immediate hand arrested him in his course.*
And I need scarcely add, the result showed how wisely he
had interpreted the leadings of Providence, and in the en-
treaty and remonstrance of Farel had heard the call of
Heaven to undertake the responsibihties of the pubHc
ministry of the gospel.

The circumstances which determined the wavering mind
of John Knox in St. Andrews were not very unlike those now
referred to in the case of Calvin. He, too, had at first declined
the solicitations made to him in private, * not considering,*
as he said, * that he had a call to this employment,' till by
the unexpected and earnest address of Rough, in the name
of the congregation, his reluctance was overcome, and he
threw himself heart and soul into his great work. Both of
these eminent men, indeed, had been educated with a view
to the priesthood in the Romish Church, one of them
(Knox) had actually been admitted into priesfs orders ; but
their reception of the Reformed faith broke up existing re-
lations, and virtually cancelled them as to the future vocation
of both ; and it was the special direction and ordering of
God's providence in respect to them which forced on them
the question, whether they should not give themselves to
the work of the ministry, and helped them to arrive at an
affirmative decision regarding it In a more quiet and un-
obtrusive manner a similar decision may be rightfully come
to still, under the guidance of circumstances essentially
the same in kind, though less marked in character. The
solemnly expressed wish of pious parents, the tuition and
training of early years, the bent and habits of mind in ad-
vancing youth, the circumstances of the times, the opening
prospects of usefulness, though none of them sufficient

THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 73

apart, yet wfien more or less combined, may exercise a legi-
timate influence, and, with minds already alive to the truth of
God, and anxious to know how best to promote its interests,
may practically be held as providential indications respecting
the path of duty.

It is possible, however, and in the present day, perhaps,
only too common, to allow more place than is justly due to
such incidental considerations and external influences. Per-
sons facilely yielding to them may be led at times to assume
the responsibilities of a work for which they are but poorly
furnished, and in which they are not likely to accomplish
much for the real ends of the ministry. Others also, who
may have been chiefly influenced by considerations of a cir-
cumstantial kind, though not unduly influenced, nor desti-
tute of qualifications for the work, may possibly in the coxirse
of time have doubts stirred in their minds as to the reality
of their call to the pastoral office, dreading lest perhaps
things of secondary moment weighed more with them in the
matter than they should have done. It is therefore of im-
portance that there should be in the minds of those engaged
in the office, or preparing to engage in it, a clear apprehen-
sion of the more inward and spiritual grounds essential to a
proper call, such grounds as ought to exist in every case,
even where the voice of external providences has seemed to
give the most certain sound, and should be known for a
light and refuge to the conscience. The subject in this
point of view has been very admirably presented in a sermon
by Mr. Robert Traill of London, on * Winning Souls,' which
is well entitled throughout to a careful perusal It formed
originally one of the Cripplegate lectures or * Morning Ex-
ercises,* and is to be found both there and in Mr. TrailFs
collected works. On the special point imder consideration,
he says : —

* Take heed to thyself, that thou be a called and sent
minister. This is of great importance to success. He that

74 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

can say, " Lord, Thou hast sent me," may boldly add,
" Lord, go with me, and bless me/' It is good when a man
is serious in this inquiry. . . . These things may satisfy a
minister's conscience that Jesus Christ hath sent him.*

* (i.) If the heart be filled with a single desire to the great
end of the ministry — the glory of God in the salvation of men.
Every work that God calls a man to. He makes the end of
it amiable to him. This desire sometimes attends men's first
conversion. Paul was called to be a saint and an apostle
at once. And so many have been called to be saints and
ministers together. If it be not so, yet this is found with
him whom Christ calls, that when he is most spiritual and
serious, when he is most under the impressions of holiness,
and he is nearest to God in communion with Him, then are
the desires after the serving of Jesus Christ in the ministry
most powerful. And the sincerity of his desire is also to be
examined ; and when it is found, it greatly adds to a man's
peace ; when his heart bears him witness that it is neither
riches, nor honour, nor ease, nor the applause of men that
he seeks after, but simply Christ's honour in the saving of
men.'

* (2.) It helps to clear a man's call, that there hath been
a conscientious diligence in all the means of attaining fitness for
this great work. That love to the end, which doth not
conduct to the use of the appointed means, may justly be
suspected as irregular, and not flowing from the Holy Ghost.
Even extraordinary officers seem not to have been above
the use of ordinary means. Old dying Paul sends for his
books and papers.'

* (3.) A competent fitness for the work of the ministry is
another proof of a man's call to it. The Lord calls no man
to a work for which He doth not qualify. Though a sin-
cere, humble man, as every minister should be, may and
should think little of any measure that he hath, whether
compared with the greater measures of others, or considered

THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 75

with regard to the weight and worth of the work, yet there
must be some confidence as to this competency for clearing
a man's call. What such competency is, it is not easy at all
times to determine ; singular necessities of the Church may
extend or intend (contract) this matter of competent fitness.
But in general there must be, first, a competent knowledge
of gospel hiysteries ; secondly, a. competent ability of utter-
ance to the edifying of others. This is aptness to teach,
required by the apostle in i Tim. iii. 2, and that a minister
be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince
the gainsayers.'

These considerations, stated with singular brevity and dis-
cretion, have respect to the question, What constitutes a
proper call to the ministry, even if it should be only a matter
in contemplation, not yet finally resolved on ? But for those
who have actually entered on the spiritual vocation, other
considerations will naturally present themselves along with
these, particularly the accompaniment of their ministrations
with tokens of the divine blessing, or the apparent absence
of these. This cannot but form an element in the judgment
of serious and thoughtfiil minds, although they ought to
exercise great caution in their search for signs of blessing,
and should be careful to include among these other fruits
of spiritual labour than known cases of conversion to the
faith. Yet results of some sorf, definite, spiritual results,
ought certainly to be looked for ; and very much in propor-
tion to their number and distinctness will be the measure of
satisfaction which one has in reflecting on the course that
has been pursued. On the other and more elementary
view of the subject, its relation to those who are inquiring
beforehg,nd whether they can discern in their state the
evidences of a divine call, both the proper points and the
proper order and connection between them are indicated in
the passage given firom Traill. The primary and most
essential point of inquiry, beyond doubt, has reference to

76 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

the State of the heart, whether it really beats in unison with
the great end of the ministry. Without this there can be no
proper adaptation to the work, nor any just expectation of
blessing in its discharge ; since always in such a case the
needful correspondence is wanting between the aim of the
Divine Pastor and that of the under-shepherd. Most fitly,
therefore, is the heart's desire toward the work placed first ;
and only if the pulse beats truly here can healthful life and
energy be looked for in the several functions.

Still, if of pre-eminent importance, this is not alone to be
regarded, especially not in an age like the present, in which
society has advanced so far in knowledge and civilisation,
and Christianity has become allied to so many fields of
literature and general information. At such a time no one
can be reckoned ordinarily qualified to hold the place of
a Christian pastor, unless he has shared in the general
culture, and become possessed of such intelligence and re-
sources as may enable him to command the respect of the
people to whom he ministers. Where these do not in good
measure exist, or where there is any marked natural impedi-
ment over which the individual can exercise no control,
even his desire to the work must give way, as anciently in
the case of David, who did well in desiring to build the
temple of the Lord, and was greatly blessed even for having
such a desire, while yet, on account of special circumstances
in his past history and condition, he was restrained from
carrying the purpose into execution. A competent fitness,
therefore, is justly named by Mr. Traill as another element
in a minister's qualifications which requires to be taken into
account, though in itself necessarily a somewhat variable
element, and depending not a little on times and circum-
stances.

And, imquestionably, there should also be included, as
subsidiary to the fitness, and indispensable both to its
acquirement and exercise, the still further element men-

THE NATURE OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 77

tioned, of a conscientious diligence in the use of means for
the improvement of all natural and spiritual qualifications.
No one, whatever be his native talents or his religious ex-
perience, if he duly considers the greatness of the ministerial
work and the incalculable results that depend on it, can
have any reasonable doubt that he should avail himself of
every advantage within his reach to give his faculties the
finest edge, as it w^re, and best preparation for the work.
Any manifest negligence in this respect, or manifest slighting
of the means of intellectual and spiritual progress, would
bespeak either an indifference to the calling, or a want of
wisdom in going about the things that concern it, which
must augur ill for future success. And the contrary result
may be in like manner anticipated, where, along with the
requisite gifts, there is manifested a laudable and steady
endeavour in the way of improvement It is justly said by
Bishop Sanderson,^ * Where the Spirit of God hath mani-
fested itself to any man by the distribution of gifts, it is but
reason that that man should manifest the Spirit that is in
him by exercising those gifts in some lawful calling. Do
not say, because you heard no voice, that therefore no man
hath called you. Those very gifts you have received are a
real call, pursuing you with a restless, weary importunity, till
you have disposed yourselves in some honest course of life,
wherein you may be profitable to human society, by the
exercising of some or other of those gifts.' Though spoken
of the Christian calling in general, this is specially applicable
to the calling of a minister of the gospel, and indicates well
the proper connection between the possession of gifts suit-
able to the work, and the obligation to give oneself to its
duties. But as the possesion of such gifts is a call to par-
ticular lines of duty, so is it also to prayer and application
for their proper cultivation and improvement. And it is a
good advice on this point in the same discourse : * Remember

^ Sermon 3d, ad clerum.

78 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

these abilities you pray or study for are the gifts of God,
and as not to be had ordinarily without labour, so not to be
had merely for the labour ; for then should it not be so
much a gift as a purchase. It was the error of Simon Magus
to think that the gift of God might be purchased with
money ; and it hath a spice of his sin, and so may go for a
kind of simony, for a man to think these spiritual gifts of
God may be purchased with labour. You may rise up early,
and go to bed late, and study hard, and read much, and
devour the fat and the marrow of the best authors; and
when you have done all, unless God gives a blessing to your
endeavours, be as thin and meagre in regard of true and
useful learning as Pharaoh's lean kine were after they had
eaten the fat ones. It is God that both ministereth seed to
the sower, and multiplieth the seed sown : the principal
and the increase are both his. If, then, we expect any gift,
or the increase of any gift from Him, neither of which we
can have without Him, let us not be behind, either with
our best endeavours to use the means He hath appointed, or
with our faithful prayers to crave His blessing upon those
means.' ^

So much for the nature of the pastoral office, and the call
to enter on its functions. The formal or ecclesiastical
authority to enter on its discharge in any particular place,
is a matter that scarcely calls for consideration here, as it is
a branch of Church polity or government But as regards
the subjects of appointment to particular charges, it will, of
course, be understood that if they have the right spirit and
qualifications for the office, they will desire that in this respect
also everything should be done in a becoming manner, and
so as to promote a good understanding between the pastor
and the people of his charge.

^ See also Vinet*s Past. Theology^ p. 72 sq.

THE PASTORAL AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PASTOR. 79

CHAPTER III.

THE PASTORAL AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PASTOR.

IT is not unusual to speak of \kit profession of a minister
of the gospel as we do of that of a lawyer or a
physician ; and were it simply a profession in the sense that
these others are, our next subject of consideration, after
having discussed the nature of the office itself, would be
the diflferent modes of operation, or lines of duty, through
which its important ends are to be reached. But there is
an easily recognised distinction between the ministerial call-
ing and a profession in civil life. The one cannot, like the
other, be contemplated as a thing by itself, apart from the
state and character of the individual. From its very nature,
it is but the more peculiar embodiment and exhibition of
the characteristics of the Christian community, a kind of
concentrated manifestation of the views and principles, the
feelings and obligations,- which belong in common to the
Church of Christ And as the Christianity which should
pervade and distinguish the membership of this Church is
emphatically a life, so the Christian ministry, in which it
may be said to culminate, must be regarded as in the first
instance a life, and secondarily as a work. It has to do
primarily with a condition of being and a course of be-
haviour, and only afterwards with the ministrations of ser-
vice. Not only must the two co-exist together, but they must
stand related to each other in the manner now indicated ;
the life from the first takes precedence of the work, and

8o THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

throughout must hold the place of pre-eminent importance.
In the Sacred Scriptures our attention is frequently and very
forcibly fixed upon this point. Thus in the Sermon on the
Mount, when our Lord was speaking of those in His king-
dom who should occupy the position of spiritual guides, He
said, ^ Whosoever shall do and teach these things, shall be
called great in the kingdom of heaven,'^ giving, it will be
observed, marked precedence to the doing, even in the case
of those whose distinctive place was to be that of teachers
in the kingdom. In another passage of the same discourse,
the absence of the doing, or rather its converse, the working
of iniquity, is represented as the special ground of the con-
demnation which shall be pronounced on those who have
falsely aspired to the rank of prophets and wonder-workers
in Christ's name.^

The stress laid upon the pastor's life and behaviour is one
of the most striking things found in the instructions given
through Timothy and Titus in the pastoral epistles. They are
themselves charged to be most careful and exemplary in this
respect, while labouring to plant or build up the churches : as
in this to Timothy, *Take heed to thyself, and to the doctrine;
continue in them : for in doing this thou shalt both save thy-
self and them that hear thee;'* and to Titus, 'in all things
shewing thyself a pattern of good works,'* making this, as it
were, the sure ground of all your proceeding, looking to it as
an indispensable element of success. Not only so, but in the
delineations given of the qualifications that should be sought
in those who were appointed to fill the office of presbyter or
episcopos in the several churches, nearly the whole have
respect to character ; ^ so that out of thirteen or fourteen
different qualities mentioned, only one has distinct reference
to the gift of teaching f virtually implying that character
was the most essential thing, and that if matters were but

* Matt. V. 19. 2 ]vfatt. vii. 23. » i Tim. iv. 16.

* Tit. ii. 7. 5 I Tim. iii. « Tit. iL

THE PASTORAL AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PASTOR. Si

right there, others would in good measure follow as a matter
of course. And how much it was St. PauFs own practice to
let example go before, and give weight to all his ministra-
tions, appears from the general tenor of his life ; in particular,
from his addresses to the elders of Ephesus, and to the
church of Thessalonica,^ in which he points to the blame-
less, self-denying, and godly life he maintained, as the clear
evidence of the sincerity of his heart, and the seal of His
testimony as an ambassador of God.

Turning from the light of Scripture on the subject to
the subject itself, a variety of considerations readily present
themselves, lending confirmation to this view of the funda-
mental importance of the pastor's personal state and be-
haviour, in relation to the objects of his ministry. First of
all, it is itself one of the most effective means of teaching ;
it is one side of the gospel in a living and embodied form,
a form which, if sound and true, will, in accordance with the
proverb which places example above precept, give forth
deeper impressions than what is heard from the lips. As
the pastor is the official representative of the flock, he ought
to be, all men expect him to be, a typal Christian. There
are thousands even in Protestant countries who seldom think
of looking higher for their ideal of Christian perfection. The
saying of Massillon is at least partially true of them, * The
gospel of most people is the life of the priests whom they
observe ; ' or, as Philip Henry more happily expressed it,
* Our lives should be the book of the ignorant' More than
other men the pastor is encompassed by influences which
tend to encourage and stimulate him to the cultivation of
what is pure and good. For religion is more peculiarly the
business of the Christian minister than it is of ordinary be-
lievers ; his daily occupations, unlike theirs, bring him into
immediate contact with divine realities ; his position, with
the proprieties naturally belonging to it, forms a kind of

> Acts XX. ; I Thess. ii.
F

82 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

safeguard against temptations to which they are frequently
exposed ; and as his proper business is to labour that others
may be good, consistency alone obliges him to strive to be
such himself. It is inevitable, therefore, that men's expec-
tations should generally be directed toward the minister as
the one in whom there should be seen the brightest ex-
emplification of the spirit and character of the gospel ; and
if this expectation is in any competent measure realized,
the interests of religion and morality will be eflfectively
promoted; if otherwise, they cannot but sustain material
damage.

Besides, not the nature merely, but the practicability also
of the Christian life finds its natural and appropriate illus-
tration in the exemplary walk and deportment of the pastor.
The excuse is thereby in a measure cut off, which is so apt
to present itself to worldly men when they hear the spiritual
demands of the gospel, that these are but the devout
speculations of the closet, scarcely to be looked . for as
realities amid the scenes and employments of every-day
life. Let the realization of these, then, be actually wit-
nessed ; let the man, who is God's more peculiar agent in
setting forth the requirements of a gospel obedience, be
himself an example of the spirit and behaviour they enjoin ;
and though still the thought may too readily be entertained,
that what is possible and becoming in the pastor is too high
for the observance generally of the flock, yef the visible
reality in him, if in a good degree conformed to the proper
standard, will go far to work in men's minds an impression
of the practicable nature of the Christian life. Indeed, as
it will usually be impossible otherwise to convince them of
the practicability of such a life, it will be still more impos-
sible to convince them of our sincerity in urging them to aim
at it, or of being ourselves persuaded that the earnest pur-
suit of it is of real moment to their well-being. A minister's
testimony in favour of a godly life, if not borne out by his

THE PASTORAL AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PASTOR. S;^

own example, can only have its fitting counterpart in a people
holding the truth in unrighteousness, and for the most part
is but too likely to have it.

Even in those lines of action which are less directly con-
nected with spiritual and moral ends, but in which also an
appreciation and advocacy of these is to some extent in-
volved, a heartfelt regard to the good, and a practical ex-
hibition of it, have ever been deemed essential to complete
success. Thus Milton, writing in respect to the sphere of
things in which he came so near to the realizing of his own
high idea, nobly says : * I was confirmed in this opinion,
that he who would not be fiiistrate of his hope, to write
well hereafter in laudable things, ought himself to be a true
poem j that is, a composition and pattern of the best and
most honourable things ; not presuming to sing high praises
of heroic men or famous cities, unless he have in himself the
experience and the practice of all that is praiseworthy.' ' In
a sphere more nearly approaching the one before us, that of
the civic orator, if we turn to the thoughtful, judicious pages
of Quinctilian, we shall find him very distinctly and repeat-
edly insisting on the necessity of personal worth. He even
throws it into the definition of an orator, saying, orcUorem
essevirum bonutn dicendi perituniy^ — first himself good, then
skilled in the faculty of speech ; a notable description.
And again, * Not only do I affirm that he who would be an
orator ought io be a good man, but that he shall not become
an orator unless he is a good man,' stating his reasons at
some length for the assertion, urging, especially for the
higher species of eloquence, the necessity of moral honesty
in him who pleads for the right, and vindicating Demosthenes
and Cicero fi"om the charges sometimes preferred against
them of a defective morale. Of Demosthenes 'himself we
have a testimony to the same effect in Plutarch, who tells
us, in explanation of the great regard which the orator had
^ Apology for Smect, ^ Inst, L. xii. i.

84 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

for the public influence of Phocion, that * he knew a nod or
a word from a man of superior character is more regarded
than the long discourses of another.'

An unhappy yet most striking illustration of the sound-
ness of this judgment may be found in the case of one of
the most highly gifted men of modem times, whose plead-
ings in the cause of reform chiefly failed of their end from
his own sad need of personal reformation. Fox had every-
thing to make him the resistless opponent of public abuses,
the most effective and triumphant advocate of what is just
and right in the government of the country, excefif a moral
life; and this vitiating element counteracted the force of all
his oratory. * Both principles and practices tending toward
arbitrary power and national degradation, were (to use the
words of Foster 1) progressively gaining ground during the
much greater part of the time that he was assailing them
with fire and sword ; yet the people could hardly be induced
to regard him otherwise than as a capital prizefighter, and
scarcely thanked him for the fortitude and energy he devoted
to their service. He was allowed to be a most admirable
man for a leader of opposition ; but not a mortal could be
persuaded to regard that opposition, even in his hands, as
bearing any resemblance to that which we have been ac-
customed to ascribe to Cato — an opposition of which pure
virtue was the motive, and all corruptions whatever the ob-
ject. The talents and the long and animated exertions of
this most eloquent of all our countrymen failed plainly
because the people placed no confidence in his virtue ; or,
in other words, because they could never be persuaded to
attribute virtue to his character. They did not confide in
his integrity. Those who admired everything in his talents
regretted that his name never ceased to excite in their minds
the idea of gamesters and bacchanals, even after he was
acknowledged to have withdrawn himself from such society.

* Review of Fox's Memoirs,

THE PASTORAL AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PASTOR. 85

. . . We wish the greatest genius on earth (Foster con-
cludes), whoever he may be, might write an inscription for
our statesman's monument, to express in the most forcible
and strenuous of all possible modes of thought and phrase,
the truth and the warning, that no man will ever be ac-
cepted to serve mankind in the highest departments
of utility, without an eminence of virtue that can sustain
him in the noble defiance, — ^Which of you convicts me
of sin?'

But if such be the case in respect to those who would
head a reform in the merely economical and political sphere,
how much more must it hold with the spiritual guides and
reformers of the people ! How inevitably must their efforts
in the cause of righteousness fail, if their own spirit and be-
haviour obviously fall below the mark ! Not only should
they have the reality of the goodness they undertake to
press upon others, but the appearance of it also should be
so vividly impressed on their aspect and demeanour as to
raise them above all suspicion of the contrary. In propor-
tion as any one recedes from this living exemplification of
the spirit of the gospel, he becomes disqualified for the
effective proclamation of its truths ; and if instead of a simple
deficiency there is a visible contrast, the result must be in
the last degree disastrous. * This,' says Baxter,^ * is the
way to make men think that the word of God is but an idle
tale, and to make preaching seem no better than prating.
He that means as he speaks, will surely do as he speaks.
One proud, surly, lordly word, one needless contention, one
covetous action, may cut the throat of many a sermon, and
blast the fruit of all you have been doing.' He therefore
justly notes it as a palpable inconsistence and grievous mis-
take in those ministers who study hard to preach exactly,
but study little, or not at all, to live exactly ; who spend
most of the week in studying how to speak two hours, and

* Reformed Pastor^ c. i. sec. 8.

86

THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

scarcely spend an hour in- studying how to live all the week.
Such conduct in the case of a popular preacher once met
with a just reproof from a blunt English farmer, in the cut-
ting remark, * Sir, you light a bright candle on Simdays, and
put it out all the week.'

These are all considerations of grave moment, and are
more than sufficient to establish the fitness, the necessity
even, if any real good is to be accomplished, of the mini-
sters of the gospel being themselves practical examples of
its truths and principles. But there are other, and one
might almost say higher, considerations still to enforce the
same conclusion ; for, without being themselves under the
power of the truth, they cannot adequately manifest the
truth to the consciences of others ; they cannot do it as
Christ requires it to be done ; and whatever talent or learn-
ing they may throw into their ministrations, there must still
be wanting elements for which no amount of talent or learn-
ing can compensate. The kind of preaching, it must be
remembered, which the Spirit is promised to bless for much
spiritual good, is not the bare manifestation of the truth,
but the truth made instinct with the life of Christian ex-
perience, quickened and intensified by feeling. It is the
truth reflected from heart to heart from a soul already pene-
trated and imbued with its spirit, to other souls either wholly
estranged from it, or less sensibly under its power. Let the
same work which is done, or the same word which is spoken,
by one from whom they pass lightly off, with little seeming
apprehension of their importance, be done or spoken by
another with the warmth and earnestness which bespeak a
heart all on fire with the mighty interests involved, and that
which in the one case falls on comparatively listless ears,
will in the other awaken a response in every surrounding
bosom. It is the action of the sanctified on the unsanctified
soul, the expression of the truth firom a conscience thoroughly
alive to its teaching, which in the hands of the Spirit is the

THE PASTORAL AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PASTOR. 87

great means of conveying deep and salutary impressions of
it to consciences that are still slumbering in ignorance or
sin. And more especially for the purpose of maintaining
such a living, spiritual agency has the preaching of the
gospel been appointed to form a standing ordinance in the
Church.

And then there is the progressive nourishment of the soul
in the life of faith, the conducting of those who have already
believed onwards to the higher experiences of grace, and a
more enlarged acquaintance with its blessings. * A minister,*
it has been justly said,^ * may have piety, and yet not the
quality of piety for this task. He may preach awakening
sermons on such subjects as the value of the soul, the un-
certainty of life, the terrors of the coming judgment ; he may
enlarge forcibly on the various branches of Christian prac-
tice ; he may reiterate in every variety of form the doctrine
of justification by faith ; and yet but inadequately fulfil this
part of his commission. To exhibit the Saviour Himself to
the eye of faith, and not a mere doctrine concerning Him ;
to expose the devices of Satan, and unravel the windings of
that lab)Tinth, the human heart ; to enter into the exercises
of Christian experience ; to conduct the flock into the interior
recesses of the sanctuary, where the hidden manna of the
gospel lies concealed, where Jesus manifests Himself to
His people as He does not to the world, and the Spirit
bears witness with their spirit that they are the children of
God, and so to promote growth in grace by unfolding the
rich privileges of the Christian calling, — this is to feed the
flock, this is to vaaktfuii proof of one's ministry. And who
is sufficient for these things ? Assuredly none but he who
through the Spirif s grace has penetrated into the mysteries
of the life of faith, and knows the truth in its reality and
power.'

Further, if a personal acquaintance with the things pf the

* Sermon by Mr. Litton.

88 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

Spirit, and a consistent exhibition of them in the walk and
conduct, be necessary to secure the proper aptitude to
teach, they are equally necessary to secure the requisite
conditions for the copious effusion of the Holy Spirit
Whatever importance may justly be attached to the clear
and comprehensive exhibition of divine truth, it is not to be
forgotten that everything ultimately depends on the pre-
sence and power of the Spirit. And though the Spirit in
His regenerative and sanctifying agency does not exclusively,
bind Himself to any specific channel for the presentation of
the truth ; though He distributes to every one severally as
He wills, and sometimes communicates saving energy through
instruments with which the element of personal holiness
is little if at all connected, yet such is by no means His
wonted method of working, nor is it what in any case we
are properly warranted to expect. According to the ordinary
law of the Spirit's operations, there is a close correspondence
between the personal state of the agent and the measure of
blessing that is made to accompany his exertions in the ser-
vice of God. No one, as formerly stated, who is himself a
stranger to faith, and the godly behaviour of which faith is
the living principle, can have any just right to minister in
holy things, much less to look for the seal of divine accept-
ance and effective co-operation in his work. And it stands
to reason, that if the minister's soul is itself somewhat like a
dry and parched region, the wilderness around shall not
through his instrumentality be refreshed with the streams of
grace. On the other hand, both reason and experience
justify us in expecting that those whom the Spirit will most
distinctly own in the husbandry of the gospel, whose eflforts
He will crown with the richest harvest of blessing, are such
as have become true participants of grace, and know much
personally of its saving operations. For the most part, they
are made instruments of good to others in proportion as
they are conscious to themselves of the love and practice of

THE PASTORAL AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PASTOR. 89

the good. Truly spiritual and earnest ministers of the gos-
pel will ever be able to distinguish in this respect between
one part of their ministrations and another; as Brainerd,
for example, when pressing on those actively engajged in the
Lord's service the importance of their possessing the more
special influences of grace, strikingly said, * These wonder-
fully assist them to get at the consciences of men, and, as
it were, to handle them with their hands ; while, without
them, whatever reason and oratory we make use of, we do
but make use of stumps instead of hands.'

Yes ; and as an elevated spiritual frame is required to fit
us instrumentally for the greater results of the Spirit's work-
ing, so this alone can properly dispose us to ask and look
for the larger effusions of His grace. There is a close con-
nection between the measure in which the Spirit is given,
and the degree of desire and faithfulness with which He is
sought And it is the soul which has experienced much
personally, that will ever be the best prepared for seeking
much believingly for others. He who has himself known
only the small drops of divine grace and power, will hardly
be in a condition to expect, or even earnestly to pray for,
the richer showers of blessing on the field of his labours.
And if there are to be Pentecostal times for the Church,
we must look for Pentecostal experiences going before in
the hearts of the ministry. And these, I may add, mani-
festing themselves in an engrossing eagerness of desire and
intensity of active effort for the salvation of men. In whom
but in such spirit-replenished souls could we expect a picture
like the following, the life-picture of the Apostle to the
Gentiles, to be in any measure reproduced? 'Thougii I
be free from all men, yet have I made myself the servant of
all, that I might gain the more. And unto the Jews I be-
came as a Jew, that I might gain the Jews ; to them that are
under the law as under the law, that I might gain them that
are under the law ; to them that are without law as without

90 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

law (being not without law to God, but under the law to
Christ), that I might gain them that are without law. To
the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak : I
am made all things to all men, that I might by all means
save some. And this I do for the gospel's sake.'^ It is this
high-strung concentration of soul, through the larger gifts of
God's Spirit, which most of all qualifies a man for doing
great things in the more peculiar work of the Spirit. One
master-passion animates and controls his movements; and
whatever he has of genius or talent, of time, of sympathy, of
love, of skill in adapting himself to circumstances, and turn-
ing to account the opportunities which present themselves,
all are laid under contribution to the one great end, and
with an impressiveness of manner, a fulness of soul, which
goes far to secure what it seeks to have realized. This
one thing I desire, this one thing I do, seems to breathe in
all he says and does.

On every account, therefore, it is of importance that the
personal state and character of the pastor, his possessing
and exercising the principles of a divine life in a higher
degree than common, should be taken, in a manner, as the
postulate of all that should otherwise characterize him, and
be anticipated from his labours. And if the following
portraiture, drawn by an eminent Dutch divine (Vitringa),
of the proper ideal of a Christian minister be too high to
warrant the expectation of its being fully realized amid the
difficulties and temptations of a present life, it is at least
what should be constantly aimed at ; and the more it is
realized, the ampler will be the reason for expecting a
blessing on the work done in the Lord's vineyard. * The
faithful servant of Christ, says he, the teacher of the gospel,
is a man of sound mind, burning with zeal for the glory of
God and the salvation of m^n, one taught by the Holy
Spirit, experimentally acquainted with the ways of God ;

* I Cor. ix. 20-23.

THE PASTORAL AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PASTOR. 9 1

one who seeks not the things of men, but men themselves ;
not his own things, but the things of Christ ; of chaste and
unadulterated manners ; by his example teaching the virtues
of piety, modesty, gentleness, zeal, prudence, gravity ; one
who, like a candle set upon a candlestick, gives light to all
who are in the house, to all who are desirous of salvation ;
both showing the way of life, and on gospel terms dispens-
ing the blessings of grace and p^ace. Whithersoever he
goes, t?ure is light; wherever he turns his steps, there is
salvation ; when he opens his lips, there is the salt of
grace; everywhere beloved, respected, and not less the
means of imparting consolation to others, than a solace to
Himself

It is the sacred influence which attends this personal
piety, the felt power it breathes, the moral weight it imparts
to everything said and done, which renders a pastorate much
distinguished by it, more attractive in its ministrations, and
in its results more beneficial, than another deficient in this,
though bringing to its aid much ampler resources of human
talent and learning. * Read the biographies of those emin ent
labourers who in modem times have adorned the different
communions of the Church of Christ, whose memory is
blessed, and whose works to this day do follow them, and
you will find that, without exception, they were men whose
closets witnessed the close communings, the importunate
pleadings, of a life hid with Christ in God ; who, abiding
near to the fountain of grace, and drawing from it rich sup-
plies according to their need, went forth to their ministerial
duties with their hearts enlarged by the love of God, and
lips speaking out of the abundance of the heart * (Litton).

For those who are at all read in such biographies many
instances will readily occur in proof of what has now been
stated. But a better instance, perhaps, could scarcely be
selected than that of Mr. Robinson of Leicester, especially
when placed beside the case of one who yielded a noble

92 THE OFFICB! AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

testimony in its behalf, one immensely superior to the
other in talent and eloquence, though far from equal in the
point now under consideration. I refer to Mr. Robert Hall,
who at the time of Mr. Robinson's death was pastor of a
Baptist Church in Leicester, and shortly after it, at a meeting
of the Bible Society in the place, pronounced a generous
and eloquent tribute to the memory of the 'deceased. As a
writer, Mr. Robinson could not be compared with Hall ; he
is now chiefly known as the author of a series of Scripture
Characters^ a work which was once extensively read, and
undoubtedly contributed in the earlier part of this century
to revive the spirit of genuine piety. In present times one is
rather disposed to wonder at its former popularity; for, while
it abounds in sensible reflections, and never fails to point to
the great principles of the gospel as the living root of all
godliness and purity, there is a flatness in the tone, and
a commonplace character usually attaching to the style of
representation, such as might be thought to argue no great
power in the work, or any peculiar fascination about its
author. But turn to the delineation of Hall, drawn when
the knowledge of the man's person, and the memory of his
life and labours, were still fresh upon the minds of all, and,
even making some allowance, as evidently requires to be
done for the excitement of the occasion, it cannot be
doubted that in the subject of the panegyric there had been
witnessed one of the most eminent examples of ministerial
attractiveness and power ; that a sway had been wielded by
him, and moral effects produced, such as might well have
excited the envy of the most gifted intellect. * His residence
in Leicester,' said Hall, 'forms an epoch in the religious
history of this country. From that time must be dated,
and to his agency under Providence must be ascribed, a
decided improvement in the moral and religious state of
this town and its vicinity ; an increase of religious light,
together with the general diffusion of a taste and relish for

THE PASTORAL AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PASTOR. 93

the pure word of God. He came to this place while it was
sunk in vice and irreligion ; he left it eminently distinguished
by sobriety of manners, and the practice of warm, serious,
and enlightened piety. He added not aqueducts andpalaces,
nor did he increase the splendour of its public edifices ; but
he embellished it with undecaying ornaments ; he renovated
the minds of the 'people, and turned a large portion of them
from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to
God. . . . The loss which the Church of Christ has sus-
tained by the extinction of such a luminary is great ; the
loss to this populous town and neighbourhood irreparable.'
Certainly he must have been no ordinary man of whom such
things could be said, even with the abatements which must
be made on account of the impressions of the moment.
And if not the only, beyond all doubt the main element of
success lay in the deep-toned, consistent, elevated, and, we
may say, full-orbed character of Mr. Robinson's life and
ministry. Piety the most sincere, charity the most enlight-
ened and active, a zeal in doing good that grudged no
sacrifice or toil, a steadiness of aim that never deviated
from its purpose, the greatest kindliness of manners coupled
with the most blameless rectitude and sobriety of life : such
were the prominent characteristics of his life and behaviour.
' Religion with him was not an occasional feeling, but an
habitual element ; not a sudden or transient impulse, but a
permanent principle, a second nature, producing purity of
intention, elevation of mind, and an uninterrupted series of
useful exertions.' And as a necessary consequence, *no
one could hear him without feeling persuaded that it was
the man of God who addressed them ; their feelings toward
him were not those of persons gratified, but benefited ; and
they listened to his instructions, not as a source of amuse-
ment, but as a spring of living water.' The example of such
a man, and it is but one of a numerous class, should be
viewed at once as an instruction and encouragement for all

94 I'HE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

who in pastoral work would be found occupying the higher
places of the field. It shows how much depends on the
spiritual healthfulness and vigour of the individual engaged
in it ; and how much may be accomplished where this exists
in any degree of perfection, even though there is nothing
like the charm of genius or the force of commanding in-
tellect. The greatest care and solicitude, therefore, should
be applied by all in this direction, the more so as here a
certain completeness is requisite; and a single palpable
blemish, or inconsistence, will go far to undo the effect of
many an excellence. Some things will do it more readily
than others, because more obviously indicative of a frailty,
or weakness, which it is hard to reconcile with a felt appre-
hension of the great realities of the gospel, and a hearty
surrender to its obligations ; such as an irritability of tem-
per, apt to fire at trifling offences, or fret at petty annoy-
ances ; an intermeddling disposition that is fond of prying
into other people's aflfairs, or giving heed to the gossiping
tales of the neighbourhood ; a proud carriage, that looks
with indifference or hauteur on those who should be treated
with tenderness and regard ; a want of disinterestedness and
generosity, seeing that an obvious selfishness in pressing his
own material comforts and advantages, to the neglect of
those of others, seems like a contrariety to the whole design
and spirit of his office. Let every one who would lay a good
foundation for honour and usefulness in this office sedulously
watch and pray against these and such like imperfections in
temper and conduct, avoiding, as he would his deadliest
enemy, whatever might serve to prompt the question in those
among whom he ministers, * Thou that teachest another,
teach est thou not thyself?*

I have said that in general the minister's office is itself a
monitor, guarding him against moral dangers to which others
are exposed, and stimulating him to the personal cultivation
of that goodness which it is his business to press on the

/

THE PASTORAL AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PASTOR. 95

regard of others. Perhaps I should add, that there are cer-
tain failings to which his office does present temptations
somewhat peculiar, and in respect to which he will do well
to take heed. In particular, there may be a temptation, if
in the discharge of his office he has won the acceptance
of his people, to self-elation, impatience of contradiction,
jealousy of fame, fondness of applause, and at times, it may
be, of offensive dogmatism of manner. So long as men
have difficulties to struggle with in their work, opposition to.
meet, or little apparent success in their labours, the circum-
stances of their position at least cannot be said to afiford
much provocation to the indulgence of such selfish humours ;
but it is otherwise when a prosperous current of affairs sets
in ; when the pastor finds himself at the head of a thriving
and numerous congregation, moving in a circle of admiring
friends, often receiving the breath of popular applause, and
by many sought unto for advice in perplexing and critical
affairs. In such circumstances be assured it requires special
grace, grace sustained by constant watchfulness and prayer,
to keep the even balance of the mind at once open to the
encouragements of the ppsition, and ready to check the
risings of every fractious or petulant feeling. The great theme
he handles, it may possibly be thought, the gospel of salva-
tion through the Lord Jesus Christ, should be of itself suffi-
cient to guard against the danger to which he is exposed,
since it has so much to do with human weakness and cor-
ruption, and presents so many calls to deep abasement of
heart in all who cordially receive it No doubt it should
do so ; but another tendency in the preacher's position, the
tendency to handle the topics of sin and salvation with
reference to others rather than himself, and in handling
them, to think more of the mode in which he deals with
them than with the subjects themselves, will, unless care-
fully watched, serve in a great degree to neutralize their
influence on his own temper and disposition. If he sue-

96 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

ceeds in preventing it, it will only be by taking pains to
press home upon his own heart what he is often preaching
to others, examining himself often in the mirror of the divine
word, and charging upon his soul the considerations that
should beget the meek and lowly spirit which shone so
brightly out in the Master whom he serves, and should never
be wanting in those who minister in His name.

Substantially the same thoughts are suggested, though
more immediately with respect to preaching itself, in the
following passage from a late German professor, from whom,
considering his controversial keenness and severity, one
would scarcely have expected it : * Even the most beautiful
and sacred things which flow from human lips may in time
become mere phrases. It is a part of human weakness and
defectiveness, a curse, as it were, accompanying the divine
blessing, that the very richest gifts of speech are the most in
danger of being used in the service of vanity, since they
lead one to take pleasure in them, to tickle by meai5s of
them, and thus to glorify oneself, rather than to serve God
and one's fellow-men. Or the words, being through frequent
use deprived of their soul, become at last as sounding brass.
To this danger the clergyman is more than others exposed.
As he is required by his vocation so often to hold up the
word of God to others, and to have always at hand and
give expression to those truths and ideas which are most of
all suited to move, startle, and penetrate men's hearts, it is
only too apt to be the case, that these truths lose for him
their terribleness, so that their force and effect on his own
heart is neutralized or weakened, and the constant direction
of his attention to others keeps him from watching himself;
so that while he works on the hearts of others he neglects
his own, and lets the weeds in it grow up unheeded.' (Hup-
feld, quoted in Bib, Sacra for October 1866.)

Enough, perhaps, has now been said on the subject of the
pastor's life generally, considered with respect to the lead-

THE PASTORAL AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PASTOR. 97

ing features by which it should be distinguished, and the
bearing, as so characterized, it is fitted to have on the suc-
cess of his labours. But there are various matters of detail
connected with it, which partly also stands to the life itself
in the relation of means to end, on which a few practical
hints may not be out of place.

I. First, it is essential both for maintaining such a life as
we have been endeavouring to describe, and for the efficient
discharge of the duties of his office, that the pastor secure
for himself a certain amount of privacy and retirement He
must know to be alone, and, in a measure, love to be so.
Vital godliness generally may be said to require this ; as it
necessarily involves a. habitual recalling of the mind from
external things to those which concern its proper well-being,
and its relation to a spiritual and eternal world. The life
of the soul not only cannot thrive^ it cannot for any length
of time exists without the habit of at least occasional abstrac-
tion from the busy scenes and avocations of the world, in
order to a more distinct recognition of the realities and
interests which lie beyond, and from which it mainly draws
its inspiration and power. But in a still higher degree must
this be predicated of the pastor, whose calling it is, not
simply to maintain the divine life for himself, but also to
minister to its formation and growth in the souls of others.
It will be next to impossible for him to do this unless he
be much alone ; not as if he shunned society, or placed any
virtue in solitude, but because he needs the opportunities
it affords to counteract the distracting tendency of earthly
things, to have faith strengthened with its proper nourish-
ment, and his ministerial resources supplied with suitable
materials of wisdom and knowledge. No doubt he has
much also to learn from society, especially from personal
intercourse with the members of his flock ; there he will
find, if he knows how to get at it, a book which it much
concerns him to study, and from which he may derive many

98 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

valuable suggestions, both for himself and his ministry. As
regards the poorer members of the flock more particularly
must this course be followed, were it only to know how to
reach their understandings and hearts; for, as has been
justly said, * He only can think as they think who often
hears them speak their thoughts. It is utterly impossible
for a clergyman to preach down to their level who is not in
their confidence.' ^ Yet such intercourse can only supple-
ment, it can no way supersede, the advantages to be
derived from systematic retirement. The pastor's favourite
resort must be his study; in it he must find what shall
be more peculiarly his home ; for in the employments to
which it calls him, he has what tends most directly to pro-
mote his self-culture, and feeds the fountain whence is to
flow light and refreshment to others. If ever any minister
of the truth might have fitly dispensed with such quiet
hours for thought and meditation, it assuredly was the
Captain of our salvation, who knew what was in man, and
possessed, besides, the treasures of all divine wisdom and
knowledge ; yet in this respect also He set His people an
example. How long a period of preparation, culminating
in a season of entire withdrawal from the world, and earnest
communings with the things of the Spirit, preceded the
commencement of His more public ministry; and even
amid its busiest scenes of energetic action, how eagerly did
He seek for the lonely hour to refresh His soul with holy
contemplation and sustained fellowship with Heaven ! With
ordinary pastors, however, there are reasons for such seasons
of retirement which could have no place with Jesus; and with-
out them, as part and parcel of his regular course of life, no
pastor, whatever may be his gifts and acquirements, can rea-
sonably expect either to maintain in healthfiil vigour his own
spiritual being, or throw into his ministrations the variety, the
freshness, and the power which ought to characterize them,

^ Alford, Essays and Addresses, p. 8.

THE PASTORAL AND SOCUL LIFE OF THE PASTOR. . 99

True, perhaps some may be disposed to say, especially
such as are actually engaged in pastoral work, and well
when it can be carried into effect ; but the question is, how
to secure the time requisite for the stated return of retired
thought and spiritual occupation at home, so much being
taken up with the calls of out-door duty, and interruptions
from various kinds of business. Practically, this proves
with many ministers of the gospel to be the great difficulty ;
but in a very considerable proportion of cases, by far the
larger number indeed, I have no doubt it comes very much
from a prior defect on their part, from the want of a fixed
purpose to obtain the requisite time as necessary to success,
or the want of orderly, systematic procedure in arranging
with a view to its attainment Everything, in a manner,
depends upon these two points : fixedness of purpose as to
the object itself, and methodizing one's own time, or secur-
ing the co-operation of others, so as to effect its accomplish-
ment Where these scarcely if at all exist, one comes to
be much at the mercy of accidents; and it may well-nigh
be said of the more peculiar vineyard of the pastor, as was
said by the Psalmist of another sort of vineyard : * The boar
out of the wood doth waste it, and the wild beast of the
field doth devour it' There is no regulative principle, no
girdle, as it were, to bind together the scattered energies of
his mind for specific action ; and so time on every hand
runs to waste ; intermeddlers of all sorts are allowed to do
with it what they will. Not that I would recommend a
rigid and unbending adherence to a particular method of
working, which, amid the ever-changing circumstances of
pastoral life, could not be retained in even one of the quieter
spheres of labour without giving frequent occasions of
offence, and missing often the fitting time for the discharge
of pastoral work if it is to be done with effect Exceptions,
therefore, ought readily to be allowed ; but still they should
be known to de exceptions ; the minister should be generally

lOO THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

understood to have a method and an order, from which he
may be expected to depart only for some valid reason.
And when such an understanding as this prevails, people
for the most part will be found to respect it ; they will
rarely intrude upon their minister, or expect to see him
among them, when his plan of life requires him to be alone.
Even if they should at times be disposed to complain that
he is not even seen more frequently among them, they will
not usually do it so as to disturb his equanimity, if they are
well assured that he is really engaged in that kind of em-
ployment which is congenial to his office, and tends to fit
him for. its important duties.

2. A second subject for consideration, naturally growing
out of the one just noticed, is the proper distribution of
that portion of his time which the pastor may usually allot
to the retirement of the study. A reasonable latitude must
here be allowed, and to a large extent each individual must
judge for himself Several things of a somewhat specific
and formal description used not unfrequently to be recom-
mended to persons preparing to enter on a regular pastorate,
such as keeping a registry of the acts and experiences of
each day, or a summary of such at more distant intervals,
of the course of study pursued, the modes of ministerial
action adopted, also the feelings, purposes, behaviour of
which the pastor has been conscious to himself from time
to time, so that he may both preserve a more distinct re-
collection of the past, and may have materials beside him
for future guidance and caution. Undoubtedly, there are
advantages to be derived from such personal records,
especially as connected with particular periods of life and
experimental eflforts ; but there are also doubtful tendencies
which • it is apt to foster, unless kept within definite limits,
and managed with brevity and prudence. Discretion and
experience must be the chief guides. Right-minded, humble,
and earnest men will by degrees find out what is the wisest

THE PASTORAL AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PASTOR. lOI

course for them to pursue, the one best adapted to their
own mental idiosyncrasy, and the circumstances in which
they are placed. The good and profitable for one may not
be so for another.

Leaving matters of that sort, then, as neither requiring nor
admitting of any precise and uniform rule, the chief appro-
priation of the hours which the pastor devotes to solitude
should unquestionably be given to meditation, prayer, and
study. The exact distribution of time to each must be
regulated by circumstances. It may, however, be laid down
as a general principle, that the whole of a minister's labours
should be intermingled with meditation and prayer. He
should never be simply a man of learning or study ; for
this itself may become a snare to him ; it may even serve
to stand between his soul and God, and nurse a spirit of
worldliness in one of its most refined and subtle forms. If
he be really a man of God, experience will teach him how
much, even for success in study, he needs to be under the
habitual recognition of God's presence, and to have the
direction of His Spirit It will also teach him how little he
can prevail, with the most careful preparations and active
diligence, in regard to the great ends of the ministry, with-
out the special aid of the Holy Spirit ; how, when left to
themselves, his most zealous eflforts and best premeditated
discourses fall powerless to the ground ; yea, and how often,
amid the comparatively quiet and orderly events of mini-
sterial employment, he will himself err in counsel, and do
what he shall have occasion to regret, ' unless he is guided
by a higher wisdom and sustained by a stronger arm than
his own. Continually, therefore, has the true pastor to give
himself to prayer ; his study should also be his froseuchk^
in which he daily holds communion, not only with the better
spirits of the past and present through the written page, but
with the Father of spirits, in the secret communications of
His grace and love.

I02 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

There are also, it should be noted, special subjects and
occasions in respect to which the pastor may justly feel that
he is called in a more peculiar manner to seek the direction
and blessing of Heaven. The purpose, for example, of
instituting any new agency for the good of the congregation,
or the spread of the 'gospel in its neighbourhood, everything
of such a nature should be projected, planned, inaugurated
with earnest prayer, both for guidance as to the instru-
mentality to be employed, and for the wished-for results on
the measures that may be put in operation. Discourage-
ments and perplexities in the work of the ministry form
another special call to humble waiting upon God, it being
always one great design of troubles of that description to
bring the pastor to a deep sense of his own insufficiency,
and to a closer dependence on God. The extent to which
this effect is produced will usually be the measure of his
profiting by the dispensations. But most of all should he
exercise himself unto prayer in connection with his work as
a preacher of the gospel. In the selection of the topics
whereon to address his people, in the specific mode or
aspect in which he should present particular truths to their
heart and conscience, in the frame of his own spirit while
delivering the message of salvation to his fellow-men, in the
impression actually made by what is delivered on those who
hear : in one and all of these the earnest pastor will find
what should draw him as a suppliant to the throne of grace.
How much often depends on a particular vein of thought
being opened, on a certain illustration being employed,
sometimes even on a single word of appeal to the con-
science ! How much also upon the general tone and bearing
of the speaker, or the unction with which all is done ! And
what so likely to help in every respect to what is desired, as
the spirit of habitual communion with the sanctuary above ?
Let the pastor, therefore, like Milton, accompany all * with
devout prayer to that Eternal Spirit who enriches with all

THE PASTORAL AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PASTOR. I03

Utterance and knowledge, and sends out His seraphim with
the hallowed fire of His altar to touch and purify the lips of
whom He pleiases.* What more than this contributed to
raise the genius of Milton himself to its singular elevation,
and has given to his productions a character of sacredness
and majesty that assimilates them to the lofty strains of a
Hebrew prophet ?

But prayer, it must ever be borne in mind, however
valuable as an auxiliary, will fail if it is taken as a substi-
tute for other resources ; if it is allowed to supersede the
proper application to study. The same apostle who, for
himself and other evangelical labourers, speaks of the
necessity of * praying always with all prayer and supplica-
tion,' has such exhortations as these : * meditate upon these
things;* * give thyself wholly to them.' So that to make
the exercises of devotion an excuse for neglecting con-
tinuous and stated application to study is to depart from the
course prescribed in Scripture, as well as to set at nought
the well-ascertained results of experience. Both extremes
are to be avoided as alike unwise and unscriptural. Study
should be accompanied and blessed by prayer, otherwise it
can never reach its end. On the other hand, prayer should
be fed and sustained by study, otherwise the spirit of de-
votion itself will languish, and both prayer and preaching
will become monotonous and languid. Proofs of this are
not far to seek. There are many who, at the outset of their
career, gave promise of much acceptance and usefulness
in the work of the ministry, but who by relaxing their
diligence in study have come ere long to exhibit a wearisome
flatness in their services, or in their thoughts and illustra-
tions to move in a kind of circle, the same rounds of ideas
perpetually returning, clothed not unfrequently in the same
words. It is even worse when freshness is attempted. * I
have been cured,' said Richard Cecil, *of expecting the
Holy Spirit's influence without due preparation on our part,

104 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

by observing how men preach who take up that error. I
have heard such men talk nonsense by the hour.' ^

It is perfectly possible, of course, and perhaps not un-
common, to go to the opposite extreme, to study to excess,
if not to the neglect of prayer, at least to an undue curtail-
ment of more active labours and employments, and even,
it may be, an impairing of the healthful tone and vigour of
the frame. There is a certain amount of application in this
particular line which may be overtaken with profit ; but if
more is attempted than the constitution is able rightly to
bear, nature will be sure to have its revenge, and a loss, not
an additional gain, will be the result The more immediate
consequence will probably be, that the mind being over-
tasked will perceptibly lose its freshness and power, will
feel unable for the sustained thought and application which
it was M^ont to possess ; it can neither so well remember
what it reads, nor so promptly and energetically use the
materials of knowledge it has acquired. And what also not
uncommonly, though somewhat more remotely happens,
the nervous system falls into disorder, imaginary evils brood
over the mind, and even the most ordinary duties are felt
to be a burden. When such things begin to make their
appearance, the studious pastor should hear in them a call
to seek a period of rest, or to give a portion of his time to
work less directly mental.

^ I have referred only in one respect to the disadvantage attending
an early settlement in a large city charge ; but other things also should
be taken into account. In particular, the country is a far better field
for the free and natural development of one's faculties, and getting
fairly alongside the common feelings and' sympathies of mankind.
There is a much easier access there to men's understandings and hearts
than when encompassed by the conventionalisms and formalities, not
to say corrupt manners, too often found in city life. And in nine cases
out of ten, a man's powers of thought and speech will be more likely to
take their native' direction, and reach their proper healthiulness and
vigour, in the one sphere than in the other.

THE PASTORAL AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PASTOR. 1 05

In regard to the subjects of study, there can be no doubt
as to what should occupy at least the primary place. For
a Christian pastoj there is nothing in that respect to be
placed beside the word of God ; that word itself, and the
literature bearing on its history and elucidation. Whether
his more direct object may be to qualify himself for the
effective ministration of the gospel, or to become a well-
read and able theologian, the close, exact, and continued
study of Scripture is alike necessary. For any department,
indeed, of ministerial service, whether as connected with
the pulpit or the press, to be mighty in the Scriptures is to
have the most fundamental qualification for doing it with
success. But on this it is needless to enlarge ; it is rather
to be taken for granted, as a point upon which there can
be no reasonable dispute with those who understand and
appreciate aright the things of God.

The difficulty rather lies in the practical direction, in
getting such command of time, and bringing to the task so
much resolution and energy, as will avail to keep up habits
of study in any particular line. When a person, still com-
paratively young, and after, perhaps, no very long experience
in evangelistic work, comes to have devolved on him the
responsibilities of a regular pastoral charge, he will usually
find his weekly preparations for the pulpit absorb all the
time he has to spare for study ; and if he can only manage
to investigate and handle Scriptture so as to acquit himself
with some measure of profit and satisfaction in his official
duties, it will be nearly as much as he can seriously aim at.
Work of this description undoubtedly has the first claim on
his attention ; it will always demand the larger share of his
time and application ; but in a great many cases it need
not, in the long run at least, engross the whole, if there
were only a wise economy and proper distribution of time,
and what is perhaps fully as essential, the selection of
some definite line of inquiry for more careful and prolonged

I06 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

examination. I of course except those who from the first
commencement of their pastoral labours are set down in a
large town, and charged with the oversight of a numerous
and intelligent congregation. In such a case there is pro-
bably not one in fifty who possesses either the physical energy
or the mental resources to do more than meet the immediate
requirements of official duty. Scripture and everything else
will have to be studied almost exclusively for the purpose of
obtaining the requisite materials for public discourse. And
along with this necessary contraction of the field of study,
and living, as one may say, from hand to mouth, there
naturally springs up also the habit of simply working for the
occasion; so that when the occasion makes no demand,
nothing of any moment is done, and there is no develop-
ment of the powers of the mind, or systematic multiplication
of its resources, except in connection with the stated labours
of the ministry. Independent literary exertion is scarcely
possible.

Take the case, however, of a person who is called to a
sphere of labour, which may be described as of manageable
extent or moderate compass ; one which may afford scope
enough for pastoral activity, and yet not so large but that,
after the preliminary difficulties of the work have been
mastered, there may be found some time to spare for inde-
pendent study. Well, to turn this time to best account,
it will usually prove of no small service to have the atten-
tion directed into a specific line of meditation or research,
for the purpose of being somewhat minutely and fully ac-
quainted with the things which belong to it, or of becoming
comparatively at home with it. Where no selection of this
sort is made, there is the want of a precise object whereon
to concentrate the powers of the mind, and awaken its
interest. The historian Gibbon, who may here be pointed
to as an example, after having completed the first half of his
great work, where he at first thought of concluding his

THE PASTORAL AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PASTOR. 107

labours, states that he then, as one relieved from toil, began
to luxuriate over the wide field of ancient literature, but
that he soon found such unrestrained and aimless liberty to
grow distasteful to him ; so that ere long he came ' in the
luxury of freedom to wish for the daily task, the active pur-
suit, which gave a value to every book, and an object to
every inquiry;* and forthwith resumed the prosecution of
his design. Now, whether one may have any approach
to the mental calibre of Gibbon or no, whether also there
may or may not be the intention of committing the result
of one's labours to the press, still the selection of a particular
subject or line of inquiry for more special and careful con-
sideration will always bring along with it this advantage,
that it engages the active interest of the mind, provides it
with a theme to prosecute in seasons of comparative leisure,
a,resource to fall back upon in circumstances of discourage-
ment, or, as Gibbon puts it, a pursuit which will impart
a value to the books one reads, and furnish an object for
specific inquiry. Where such is altogether wanting, the
reading is apt to become desultory, and the information
obtained, being without any definite aim or connecting bond,
is like random seed which yields no adequate harvest. But,
indeed, without some special study to nourish his intel-
lect and sustain his thoughts above every-day concerns, the
pastor, especially the country pastor, is apt to sink into
common-place. Besides, both for the improvement of the
mind itself, and for one's own position and character, it is
always an advantage to be well informed upon some par-
ticular branch of sacred learning, more so than to have a
wider range of knowledge, though less exact and thorough
in its character. In the very process, also, of becoming an
adept in some one department of inquiry, the mind neces-
sarily gathers a great deal of collateral information, for
every subject has its points of contact with many others ;
and if there should be acquired real depth of research and

I08 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

maturity of view within a limited range, this will ensure a

considerable degree of enlightenment over a much wider

field.

It appears to me, therefore, a wise and beneficial thing for

those who have some real taste for study, and the resolution
to carry out a plan after they have got a settled position
and had time to look about them, to make choice of some
particular subject, or class of subjects, for their more peculiar
consideration ; one that they shall be ever returning upon
and labouring at till they acquire in regard to it a compara-
tive mastery. The Bible itself presents a considerable
variety of departments which might severally be chosen for
such a purpose, each having associated with it a more or
less extensive literature. There is, for example, the text of
Scripture, viewed with respect to the authorities on which its
correctness is based, or to the languages in which it was
originally written, with the various and characteristic shades
of diversity which they assumed in different ages, or in the
hands of different penmen. Then there are the several
classes of writings in the Bible, each indicating, on the part
of the human authors, a distinctive cast of mind, and re-
quiring a certain affinity with the same in those who would
apply successfully to their elucidation : such as the historical
books of the Old Testament, which not only relate to what
may be called the kernel of all history, the development of
God's kingdom in the world, but touch also incidentally on
all the more prominent kingdoms of antiquity, and the
manners and customs of former times ; the poetical and
didactic books, which exhibit the forms of spiritual thought,
and the devotional, spiritual, and moral results which sprang
from the revelations and institutions successively given to
the people of God ; lastly, the prophetical, which connected
the past with the future, and laid open the more secret
counsels of Heaven for the instruction and warning of men.
In the New Testament, again, we have the Gospels, the

THE PASTORAL AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PASTOR. 109

Epistles, the Apocalypse, each forming so many great divi-
sions, and calling for a characteristic mode of treatnient, as
well as for prolonged study to become thoroughly acquainted
with the materials which past diligence and research have
accumulated for their elucidation. In addition to these, and
more or less connected with the teaching of Scripture, how
many other fields of investigation present themselves !
Archaeology, or Jewish and Christian antiquities, monu-
menjtal theology, chronology, patristic and medieval phases
of thought and action, the writings and labours of the Re-
formers, the Puritan development of theology, the contro-
versies with infidels and heretics, the lives of eminent divines
and missionaries, etc.; any one of which, if systematically
prosecuted, might aflford ample scope for profitable and
interesting employment. Take up any one of them to which
a sense of its own importance, or the drawing of natural in-
clination, might induce you to give the preference, and you
will find that the deliberate effort to master its details, and
obtain an intimate acquaintance with its different bearings,
will serve at once to give an impulse to your studies, and
enable you to make a profitable use of many fragments of
time which would otherwise slip unimproved through your
hands.

With this recommendation, however, let me couple the
earnest advice, that no independent course of study be pur-
sued in such a manner, or to such an extent, as to interfere
with the regular discharge of pastoral duties, or suitable
preparation for them. These should on no account be
jostled out of their proper place ; and if things which, how-
ever important in themselves, are still in their relation to
the pastor's own responsibilities but of secondary rank,
come to usurp the time and application which are due
primarily to them, dissatisfaction will inevitably arise, and
the blessing of God may not improbably be withheld firom
the employments which are allowed to impoverish the flock.

no THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

The spirit of vital godliness in the first instance, and then a
proper estimate of the nature and ends of the pastoral office,
will alone be adequate to preserve in the mind the proper
balance between the respective claims that press on it, and
save it from running to extremes.

3. To refer now to that part of a minister's time which is
not appropriated either to the occupations of the study or
to the formal duties of the pastorate, he is undoubtedly
entitled to find in it enough for purposes of daily relaxation,
with seasons also of occasional recreation on a larger scale.
Interludes of this sort are indispensable to his physical
health, and the general fireshness and elasticity of his frame.
In the kind of occupations or entertainments, however,
selected for this end, care should ever be taken to avoid
what is unbecoming the gravity which befits the ministerial
character, and what may tend to indispose the mind to
serious employments. The sports of the field, therefore,
hunting, shooting, and such like, are justly proscribed by
the spiritual sense of the religious community, as too dis-
tinctively worldly in their nature, and in their tendency mini-
stering too powerfully to animal excitement, to comport well
with what should be the predominant state of feeling in
those who are the keepers of souls. Even entering into
parties which are formed for the purpose merely of going a
pleasuring, if done at all, should be done with prudent
foresight and consideration, as such things are exceedingly
apt to degenerate into improper levity and frolicsomeness.
For the most part, the safer and more becoming method of
filling up the time devoted to relaxation will be to spend it
in the quiet occupations of the garden, or in walking ex-
cursions and friendly visits, which can be managed without
the slightest violation of decorum, and can be taken either
alone, or in the company of a very few, and these quite
congenial spirits. In matters of this description it were
absurd to prescribe for others, or even for oneself, stringent

THE PASTORAL AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PASTOR. Ill

and imperative rules. One must be guided to a large extent
by circumstances. Yet there are always limits which the
thoughtful and well-balanced mind, which is duly alive to
the interests of salvation and the powers of the world to
come, though still without moroseness, will not fail to pre-
scribe to itself.

As for diversions, exhibitions, and scenes which are in
their very nature of a questionable kind, the safe path for a
minister of the gospel will be to stand altogether aloof from
them. It is not for him, who has to deal with his fellow-
men on the great themes of mercy and of judgment, to be
mingling in parties or frequenting places where he has to
debate the matter at the threshold with his own conscience ;
and the advantage which he might derive from occasionally
seeing what is transacted in them for the amusement of the
mere lovers of pleasure, would be greatly more than counter-
balanced by the extent to which his character and position
should be compromised. In regard to all this class of
things it is a good rule of Mr. Cecil's, that if a worldly man
should meet a godly minister in them with the salutation,
* I did not expect to see you here,' it is a pretty sure sign
that the minister is not in his proper place. For whatever
licence the men of this world may often take to themselves,
and however disposed to say one to another. What is the
harm in such and such things ? they have usually a quick
enough discernment of the incongruity between questionable
indulgences and a Christian profession, when exemplified in
the conduct of those whose calling is more peculiarly asso-
ciated with the spirit and obligations of the gospel.^

^ A former dignitary of the Irish Episcopal Church (the Bishop of
Limerick) has the following sensible remarks on the subject under con-
sideration, in a charge to the clergy of the diocese : * I do not see,' he
said, * how a clergyman, consistently with the sacredness and separa-
tion of his character and office, consistently with the vows which he has
made at his ordination, can pursue the sports of the mountain or the

112 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

What are called mixed companies stand in a somewhat
different position, for in the majority of cases it is impossible
for the pastor altogether to avoid them. The boundary
line here is not an absolute one between the lawful and the
forbidden ; it perpetually varies with the circumstances of
place and time ; and nothing but the fear of God, an en-
lightened conscience, spiritual tact and discretion, can be
our guide regarding it. It can never beseem a minister of
the gospel [to court worldly society for its own sake ; but
neither ought he entirely to shun it. The example of our
Lord speaks distinctly upon this point. He entered frankly
into the society of those around Him, as conscious of cer-
tain relations He had to maintain, certain duties He had to
fulfil toward them ; and so, within moderate limits, should
the ministers of the gospel. But in so doing, they should
endeavour, like their Master, to preserve the attitude of
persons rather complying with occasions presented to them,
than seeking for themselves a natural gratification, and
watching the while for opportunities to do good to those
with whom for the time they are brought into contact It
is a happy talent to be able, in the company of men of
worldly ambition or loose morals, not only to keep one's
own soul from sinking to a level with theirs, but also to
exercise a restraint on their dispositions, and raise the tone
of thought and conversation to something like a proper

field ; can be found at the card -table or in the ball-room. In avowing
these sentiments, I avow the sentiments which, from the earliest ages
of the Church, have been maintained alike by the old Catholic bishops
and Fathers, and by the most distinguished and illustrious Churchmen
of modern times. In these sentiments I have lived ; in these senti-
ments I hope to die ; and at the close of life it will be to me a crown
of rejoicing, if, through my humble instrumentality, any of my reverend
brethren shall be induced to become like-minded, and to consider, even
in their most unguarded hours, what gravity and recoUectedness are at
all times and in all places demanded of our sacred order. ' (Quoted
in his Life of Foley ^ by Rev. E. S. Wayland, p. 38.)

THE PASTORAL AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PASTOR. II3

pitch. But It is a talent not easily acquired ; since it re-
quires a combination of properties that may always be ex-
pected to be somewhat rare ; and for the most part it will
be found by experience to be but a limited good which a
minister can accomplish through his presence in mixed
societies. Let him beware lest the cause of godliness
rather lose than gain by it. For there is truth in what is
remarked by Vinet : ^ ' A man who is seen everywhere can-
not inspire a respectful consideration. The judgment
which is formed of a pastor who is seen in all companies
is not likely to be very favourable. He will be accused of
not feeling his duties, and not appreciating the necessity of
solitude. Society multiplies occasions for doing good, but
it yet more multiplies occasions for doing evil. And there
are some men whom the pastor ought not to see at his own
house or elsewhere. St. Paul counsels Timothy to turn
away from all men whose life is evil, and especially from
those who have the appearance of that piety of which they
have denied the power,' 2 Tim. iii. 5.

I add only further, that in all situations and in all com-
panies, the pastor should never forget his office ; he should
bear in mind that he has a high calling to fulfil, and should
aim at preserving in his demeanour a dignified simplicity.
General gravity of behavioiu: must ever seem appropriate to
one who has such heavy responsibilities resting on him ;
but it should be natural, not affected or put on for the occa-
sion ; it should be accompanied and relieved by a genuine
simplicity. If this is wanting, the other will only be re-
garded as an official mannerism, and will not gain the respect
of the world, while it will effectually mar the freedom of his
access to the confidence and affection of his people. If all
expect decorum, they not less desire simplicity in the air
and deportment of their minister. Even people of finesse,
themselves living in an artificial state of society, will admire

^Pastoral TheoL p. 118.
H

114 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

simplicity in him, if only it is not coupled with rough-
ness, or rendered offensive by low manners and a vulgar
familiarity.^

4. A word may suffice for the pastor's more public rela-
tion to the commonwealth ; for the less he meddles with
the simply political contests and movements of the day it
will usually be the better both for himself and for his work.
So many ministers of the gospel, both in Established and
Nonconformist Churches, have embroiled themselves in
unseemly strife, and become visibly secularized in spirit by
labouring too much at this oar, that if not an utter abstinence,
at least a cautious reserve in respect to it, is the manifest
dictate of wisdom. There are questions and measures so
far political that they come to be legislated on in Parlia-
ment, but which are intimately connected with the religious
and moral well-being of the commimity. As regards these,
ministers of the gospel have an obvious duty to discharge
as members of the commonwealth ; they should endeavour
^ to arrive at a sound judgment concerning them, manfully
declare their views, and on fitting occasions try to influence
aright the views of others. It is another thing, however, to
enter actively into the political arena, make speeches in
political meetings, and direct the machinery of elections.
This they had better leave to others, who find their proper
sphere in such troubled waters. It is in a higher sphere
that their peculiar strength lies ; and so long as they keep
to it, the sentiments they express, and the part they quietly
but firmly take in the things which concern the wise ad-
ministration and good order of the country will have their
weight, without imperilling the interests of their office by
ijiaking themselves the tools of designing meli.

5. Lastly, in respect to the domestic relations, everything
in the pastor's family should be in proper keeping with his

^ On the subject of gentlemanly, as opposed to vulgar manners, I
may refer to the excellent letters of Dr. Miller of Princeton.

THE PASTORAL AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PASTOR. II 5

place and calling ; of incalculable importance it is that it
should be so. As he should be himself a typal Christian, so'
his home should be a kind of pattern household. St. Paul in
several places lays special stress upon this, and points to
the state of the pastor's family as an evidence whether or
not he is qualified to preside over the household of God.
With the state of his family his personal comfort and use-
fulness are inseparably bound up ; and if there is palpable
disorder and irregularity at hpme, it is impossible that in
his public capacity he can wield the influence and secure
the respect which it is proper for him to possess. How
many ministers of promising parts, and as preachers of the
gospel apparently destined to excel, have been rendered
comparatively ineffective in their pastoral relation by the
disorderly condition of their households, or the scandalous
misconduct of certain members of their families ! Perhaps
a want of firmness at first, on the pastor's part, in checking
the evil at its commencement, a connivance at things which
ought instantly to have been repressed, a tendency too much
indulged to let domestic affairs be overshadowed by the
concerns of public duty, perhaps also a want of sympathy
in respect to the high ends of the ministry on the female
side of the house, opening the door to foolish companion-
ships and improper worldly compliances, have, one or other
of them, contributed to foster a spirit of insubordination and
licence in the family, which grows till it becomes altogether
unmanageable, and recoils with disastrous effect on the
pastor's position and usefulness. Here, therefore, the great-
est pains should be taken, the most vigilant oversight main-
tained, and, I may add, the most prayerful anxiety exercised
from the outset, that the whole of his domestic and family
affairs should be managed with discretion, so as to second,
not to impede, his labours in the gospel. It becomes him
to be the more concerned about this, as here he is to a large
extent dependent upon others ; he cannot stand alone ; nor

Il6 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

can matters go well with him, unless along with fidelity and
prudence to discharge his own part aright those who stand so
near to him have corresponding measures of the same for
the discharge of theirs. Most of all is it important, that if
he be married, he should not be unequally yoked ; that his
partner in life should be a person of genuine faith, Christian
discretion, and active zeal ; for, if such, she may not only
maintain order and decency in the household, but also by
her example and influence render most effective service to
the moral and spiritual interests of the flock. In some fields
of pastoral labour, of course, the minister's wife may be able
to accomplish more than in others ; but in nearly all, she
may prove a valuable handmaid ; and, speaking generally,
the proper relations here may not inaptly be represented, as
they were by a German pastor at the Evangelical Alliance
Meeting in Berlin (1857), when he said that the pastor was
not to be considered as A, and his wife as B, but rather that
he was A^ and she A^, meaning that her place and influence,
when of the proper kind, come so near to his, that they are
to be contemplated as lying in the same plane, and hers
only second in magnitude and value to her husband's.

I cannot bring my remarks on this subject to a close
without expressing again my deep conviction as to the vast
importance I attach to the personal and social life of the
pastor for the success of his mission as a servant of Christ.
Even in a somewhat general respect the influence of a well-
educated, exemplary married clergy has been of great benefit
to society, and is acknowledged to have been so by per-
sons who are not disposed to concede anything to them on
the score of mere official position. Thus Mr. Lecky, in
his History of European Morals (vol. ii. p. 354), speaks,
though with a slight qualification, yet in very strong terms
regarding it: 'Nowhere, it may be confidently asserted,
does Christianity assume a more beneficial or a more win-
ning form, than in those gentle clerical households which

THE PASTORAL AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PASTOR. II 7

Stud our land, constituting, as Coleridge said, "the one
idyl of modem life," the most perfect type of domestic
peace, and the centres of civilisation in the remotest village.
Notwithstanding some class narrowness and professional
bigotry; notwithstanding some unworthy but half- uncon-
scious mannerism, which is often most unjustly stigmatized
as h)rpocrisy, it would be difficult to find in any other quarter
so much happiness at once diffiised and enjoyed, or so much
virtue attained with so little tension or struggle.' And in
regard to the pastor's wife : * In visiting the sick, relieving
the poor, instructing the young, and discharging a thousand
delicate offices for which a woman's tact is especially needed,
his wife finds a sphere of labour which is at once intensely
active and intensely feminine, and her example is not less
beneficial than her ministrations.'

This is true ; but the truth, in it rises in importance when
it is viewed in the bearing it necessarily has on what should
ever be the great scope and aim of the pastoral calling. It
is in reality the personelle of the pastor, what he is as to
individual qualifications and character, that gives the tone
to his work, and determines at once the nature and the
effect of his ministrations. As water cannot rise above the
spring firom which it issues, neither can the acts themselves
of a ministerial career, nor the results accomplished by them,
be found to reach higher in spirit and character than his
firom whom instrumentally they proceed ; usually they may
be expected to fall considerably beneath it. The services
he conducts in the sanctuary must to a large extent take
their impress fi'om the preacher, and be in thought, in feel-
ing, in utterance, the reflection of his style of Christianity.
And both in these and in the more private labours of the
pastoral life, it ever is the living image of the man which
makes all what it properly is : not so much what is said or
done on any particular occasion, as what he is in personal
attainments and worth whose name it bears. If he demeans

Il8 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

himself as becomes his office ; if his feelings and habits as a
man, his endowments and bearing as a minister, are such
as to place him on the proper vantage-ground ; if all that is
seen and known of him is of a kind fitted to suggest the man
of God, as well as the official representative of a Church of
Christ, then an air of sacredness will attach to his ministerial
course, and the testimony he delivers for truth, righteous-
ness, and mercy will come forth with an authority and an
impressiveness which cannot fail to command the respect
of ill, while it will sink more deeply into the hearts of some.
But make the contrary supposition ; conceive a pastor but
poorly qualified for his high trust, so that in office alone he
seems to rise above many in his flock; or conceive him
possessed of a fair measure of qualifications, and on various
accounts entitled to the esteem of his people, but these ac-
companied by certain marked deficiencies or palpable fail-
ings in his character and work, how impossible in such a
case must it be for him to get the position he ought to
occupy ! And how inevitably will the heterogeneous or
disturbing elements about him intrude upon men's minds
like a qualifying but^ interfering with the impressions that
might otherwise have been produced, or taking back again
a portion of the good that may have been received.

If, turning firom the interests of religion generally, we
think of those which concern our own Communion in par-
ticular, fresh reasons will discover themselves in support of
what has been said. On this more than anything else of
an instrumental kind the Free Church depends for her well-
being and prosperity ; indeed, the one may be safely tested
and gauged by the other. She has received, it is true, a
banner to be displayed because of the truth, a testimony
which ought to draw toward her the hearts of those who
have learned to know and prize the truth. Doubtless this
will more or less be the case ; yet not as apart from the
personal and official qualifications of her pastors. People

THE PASTORAL AND SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PASTOR. II9

generally, even good Christian people, will take their im-
pressions and form their opinions in a great degree from
this ; and if, on the basis of her testimony, this or any other
Church should fail to raise up a ministry that is adequate
to her own wants and those of our age and country, her
testimony .will infallibly cease to ^arry the respect which it
ought to command. May all aspirants to the ministry lay
this seriously to heart, and strive in earnest to make good
what it requires at their hands ! It is pre-eminently a noble
work to which they are giving themselves ; a work which
cannot fail to yield a rich harvest of blessing in their own
experience, as well as to those among whom they minister,
if only it is prosecuted in the right spirit, and by men who
are themselves the living examples of what they preach.
But this is the indispensable condition of success ; and in
proportion as it fails, there will also be a failure in the true
mission and glory of the Church.

120 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

CHAPTER IV.

THE MORE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE.

Section I. — The Theory and Practice of Preaching,

IN proceeding now to consider the special duties of the
pastoral office, we cannot hesitate to assign the first
place to the work of preaching, the preparation and delivery
of discourses on the great subjects of God's revelation to
men. This forms more peculiarly the vocation of the
Christian pastor; other things, though important in their
proper place, are still but subsidiary in comparison of it.
As the purpose of God is to save men by the knowledge
of the truth in Christ, so by what the apostle calls 'the
foolishness of preaching,' that is, by the simple, faithful,
earnest proclamation of the truth, the great end of the
ministry must chiefly be carried out It is only by their
coming to know and believe the truth that men consciously
enter into the kingdom of God ; and every step they may
afterwards take in the discharge of its obligations, or in the
personal experience of its blessings, must be in connection
with realizing views of the things which belong to the person
and the work of Christ. Whatever, therefore, is fitted to
aid in bringing men to the possession of such views, is on
that account entitled to a minister's attentive consideration;
but he should ever regard the preaching of the gospel as
the means more especially appointed by Christ, and in its
own nature best adapted for bringing the truth effectually
to bear upon the hearts of men, and maintaining its influence

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 121

in Christian congregations. So that preaching, as justly
stated by Vinet,^ * is essential to the pastorate, which apart
from this cannot reach souls, and cannot present the truth
in its most regular and general forms. This,' he adds, * is
the glory of our Reformation, that it has restored public
preaching to the Church; it may even be said to the
Catholic Church. Surely that was a noble movement by
which the priesthood passed from a simple celebration of
rites (which had become a species of magic) to science, to
thought, to speech and aggressive action.'

I. Points of agreement in essential qualities between preach-
ing and public speaking in general, — Preaching, as it is now
understood, being only a particular kind of public discourse,
necessarily has certain things common to it with oratory in
general, but which must rather be presupposed here than
formally considered. Not, however, as if they were of little
importance ; on the contrary, I quite concur in the state-
ment of Mr. Rogers,^ that the eloquence of the pulpit ' has
never, I should rather say seldom, been assimilated so fair as
it might have been to that which has produced the greatest
effect elsewhere, and which is shown to be of the right kind,
both by the success which has attended it, and by the
analysis of the qualities by which it has been distinguished.'
It will be well, therefore, for those who are bent on attain-
ing to such excellence in this respect as they maybe capable
of reaching, to make themselves acquainted with the great
principles of public speaking as an art, as these have been
unfolded by the masters of eloquence themselves, or by
those who have made them the subject of special study.
Here the ancients still continue among our best guides, not
merely from the admirable specimens of oratory they have
left behind them, but also on account of the careful study
they gave to the subject, and their clear enunciation of all

^ Past, Theology^ p. 73. ^ Essay on Sacred Eloquence,

122 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

the more important elements of success. There is scarcely,
I believe, anything of moment, nothing certainly entitled to
much consideration, which will not be found both lucidly
stated and largely illustrated in the rhetorical treatises of
Aristotle, Cicero, and Quinctilian. Such works, however,
of modem date as Campbell's Philosophy of Rhetoric^
Whately's Rhetoric^ also Blair's Lectures on Rhetoric^ may
be consulted with advantage. That I may not altogether
omit what relates to this more general, though in itself most
fundamental branch of the subject, I shall endeavour as
briefly as possible to indicate a few leading points.

(i.) First of all it is to be borne in mind, that nature
here, as in other things, constitutes the foimdation. It does
so in two respects, both as to the measure in which success
in public speaking may be possible, and as to the particular
method or style through which it may be attained. What-
ever the labour and cultivation of art may do, it must have
certain aptitudes or capacities of a natural kind to build
upon. That the first parts belong to nature {primas partes
esse naturcB) is freely allowed by Quinctilian,-'^ even when
he is urging most strenuously the necessity of laborious
appUcation. In personal appearance, in freedom, flexibility
and compass of voice, in strength of reason, retentiveness
of memory, warmth of feeling, quickness and vivacity of
thought, one man naturally excels another ; and the greater
or less degree in which any individual may possess these
respective qualities, cannot fail to bring along with it a
corresponding advantage or defect in respect to the higher
measures of success. * Some,' says Cicero,' * possess them
in so eminent a degree, they are so adorned with the gifts
of nature, that they seem to have been not so properly bom,
as fashioned by the hand of God for consummate orators ;'
while there are others in the precisely opposite condition,
so hesitating in their speech, so harsh and grating in their
^ Inst, XL 3. • De Oratore^ L. i. c. 25.

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 1 23

voice, SO lumbering in their mental action or uncouth in
their bodily movements, that no amount of application
could be conceived adequate to make them tolerable public
speakers. But even where there is such combination of
properties as may be said to constitute a natural aptness
for the work sufficient as a foundation for oratorical culture,
that nature must still determine the kind; and to set up
before one's view a model as to method of discourse, or
manner of speech and address, which should oblige one to
go against the grain, would only be to lose that which might
have been attained, to desert nature where it could achieve
something for an ideal excellence which lies hopelessly out
of reach.

(2.) A second point to be borne iii mind is the improve-
ableness of nature in the powers which actually belong to
it, if only there is applied to their cultivation persistent and
well-directed effort. None speak more strongly on this
point than those who have themselves risen to the highest
degrees of excellence in the art of speaking, or have given
finer examples of it to others. The traditions respecting
Demosthenes,^ his partial failiures at first only rousing him to
more resolute endeavours, his laborious practice of elocution
by the sea-shore, his firequent resort to the depths of a soli-
tude where no voice but his own could be heard, and no
passing objects could be seen to distract the eye of his
mind, or interrupt the intensity of its application, — such
things, as well as the character of his surviving speeches,
tell of the earnest and long-continued study which bore him
to the peerless elevation which he ultimately reached.
Cicero, too, after he had gained some distinction as a pleader
in the Forum, so far from being satisfied with this early
success, or thinking that he had already approached the
limits of perfection, put himself under the direction of pro-
fessed rhetoricians, both at Rome and afterwards when

* Quinct. L. X. 3.

124 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

sojourning at Athens and in Asia Minor, giving himself, as
Quinctilian expresses it, to be in a manner formed and
modelled anew.^ And his own advices to others are in
perfect accordance with the course he had himself pursued,
as may be seen, for example, in the 2d Book of his Treatise
on Oratory, where explicit directions are given upon the
subject, and the result of judicious and persevering applica-
tion is represented as almost incredible. Preachers must
expect no exemption from this law of nature, though few
may be able to bestow such pains and application in con-
forming to it as the persons just referred to. As public
speakers they have powers to cultivate, faculties to improve
and exercise, and that both in respect to the proper treat-
ment of the subjects they have to handle, and the way and
manner of presenting their ideas, so as best to convince the
understandings and impress the hearts of their audience.
However easy it may be with certain natural advantages on
their side to reach a respectable mediocrity in these respects,
perfection, or even an approach to perfection, in any one
of the properties going to constitute the really effective
public speaker, is necessarily reserved for the painstaking
and the diligent.^

(3.) The dependence of successful public speaking on an

^ L. xii. 6.

' It should be remembered also, that whatever help one may some-
times get from others, self-culture, self-application must chiefly be
looked to. So it certainly was with Demosthenes, so with one of the
greatest of American orators. * I owe my success in life, ' said Clay, * to one
single fact, namely, that at the age of twenty-seven I commenced and
continued for years the practice of daily reading and speaking upon the
contents of some historical or scientific book. These offhand efforts
were made sometimes in a corn-field, at others in the forest, and not
unfrequently in some distant bam, with the horse and the ox for my
auditors. It is to this early practice of the great art of all arts that I
am indebted for the primary and leading impulses that stimulated me
forward, and have shaped my entire subsequent history.*

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. I2S

appropriate style, is a third point requiring careful thought
and application ; style, I mean, not simply with regard to
the choice of words or the structure of sentences (which
may admit of many varieties), but as a fitting expression of
the speaker's own cast of mind, as exercised on the class of
subjects of which he discourses, and with a view to the
specific end he aims at in handHng them. Diligence and
care in this respect Cicero calls the most efficient and con-
trolling factor in speaking aright {optimum effectorum ac
magistrum dicendi),^ though Cicero himself, it must be ad-
mitted, carried the matter to excess, and in aspiring after
that fine modulation of words and wealth and harmony of
diction in which he became so great a master, he often im-
paired the naturalness and strength of his language by the
too artificial, elaborate, and prolix structure of his sentences.
The line that is really the most fitting and appropriate for a
particular speaker will always be found involved in some
difficulty, calling for wise discrimination in the individual,
with a certain deHcacy of feeling and propriety of senti-
ment ; nor in anything will a false taste more readily dis-
cover its mistake, or prove more certainly fatal to success.
It is also beset with this peculiar difficulty, that while one's
style must to a large extent be formed on the model of
written productions, there are qualities of style which may
be perfectly proper, sometimes may add grace or dignity to
the printed page, which would inevitably appear stiff or
affected if transferred to the oral discourse. One thing
requires especially to be kept in view by the pubHc speaker,
whatever may be the particular theme or the kind of audi-
ence with which for the time he has to do ; he must culti-
vate lucidity and directness of speech ; for it is not with
him as with an author, whose readers may hang for a con-
siderable time over his pages in order to catch the full
drift of his meaning, or obtain an adequate appreciation of

^ De Oratorif i. 33.

126 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

the felicitous manner in which it is unfolded. The public
speaker must be understood as he goes along ; every sen-
tence, every word he utters should find its way to the imder-
standings of his hearers as soon as it passes fi'om his lips ;
in so far as it does not, it necessarily fails of its aim. But
in respect to other qualities, such as regard to emphasis,
comparative ease or tension, pathetic tenderness or rugged
energy, elegance, terseness, epigrammatic point or careless
simplicity, there is room for almost endless diversity ; and
which of these to adopt, and when^ demands not only a dis-
criminating judgment with respect to each particular part
and species of discourse, but also a just estimate of one's
own powers in relation to the things required. Hence, all
sensible critics recommend here much tentative and experi-
mental action ; a cautious gauging of one's personal powers
and resources ; a study of the most approved exemplars of
thought and style, in their different kinds ; and, above all,
the habitual practice of composition, whether for public
discourse or merely for private exercise and improvement.
Scribendum ergo (says Quinctilian) quam diiigentissime, et
quam plurimum;^ and this all the more, as he also iu*ges,
if we have much to do in extempore speaking, since without
regular habits of study and experience in written composi-
tion, it is sure to degenerate into what he calls inanem
loquacitatem et verba in labris nascentia, frothy talk and lip
oratory.

(4.) Then, fourthly, there is the intimate connection be-
tween the things spoken and the action or bearing of the
speaker, a point which the commonest hearers as well as
the greatest rhetorical authorities are competent to judge
of, and alike regard as of highest moment ; for the one class
instinctively feel what the other intellectually discern.
Thousands can judge of the propriety or impropriety, the
defects or advantages of a speaker's voice and motions,

' L. X. 3, 7.

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 1 27

which together make up action, for the comparative handful
who can intelligently judge of the merits or demerits of the
discourse he delivers. People are affected, not simply, often
not so much, by the thoughts presented to their minds, as
by the manner in which they are presented, the tone, the
gesture, the whole aspect and demeanour of him who is
seeking to gain a hearing for them. So that, as is perfectly
known, a second or even third rate discourse, if set forth by
an appropriate and becoming action, will prevail more than
the most exquisite composition, which is accompanied in
the delivery by an unsuitable or defective manner. The
judgment of Demosthenes on this point is well known ; and
Cicero speaks with scarcely less decision ; for he represents
action as having a sort of dominant power in speaking
{unam in dicendo actionem dominari)A And he justly
notices that in that respect there is nothing so readily
marked, nor so apt to take a firm hold of the memory, as
that which occasions offence. It is what every one per-
ceives ; it seems to thrust itself on the observation of all,
and cleaves to their remembrance whether they will or not.
There is therefore a double reason for attending to the
matter, since an appropriate and well-regulated action adds
immensely to the force of what is spoken, while anything
unbecoming, awkward, misplaced, or ineffective inevitably
palls upon the taste of the hearers, and hangs like a clog
upon one's efforts to produce effect.

(5.) Yet, with all the attention that should thus be paid
to the cultivation of native talent, of style, of action, and the
pains that should be taken on every hand to avoid obvious
blemishes and defects, there is still another point that may
be said to overtop the whole, and the more difficult to be
reached in practice, that to be attained in any competent
degree it is necessary that all the rest should be cast into
comparative forgetfulness ; it is the surrender of the heart

^ De Orat. i. 28.

128 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

to the subject in hand, the power of letting oneself out into
it. The soul of eloquence may be said to lie here ; and
without some measure of it, though there may be ever so
finely constructed sentences, close and correct reasonilig,
graceful elocution, there cannot be the quickening impulse
and persuasive speech which rivet the attention of the
audience, and stir their hearts. For this the speaker must,
above all, be possessed by the things which he comes to
discourse of, impressed with a sense of their reality and im-
portance. Pectus est enim ^ (to quote again Quinctilian)
quod disertos facit, et vis mentis ; and hence, he justly adds,
even among unlearned persons, if only they are stirred by
some powerful affection, words are not wanting. The mind
then, instead of turning its eye inward on itself, or fixing on
a single point, pours itself forth on many things in suc-
cession, as when one glances along a straight path every-
thing is embraced that is in and around it ; not the further
end merely, but the things also that lie between us and it.
So that whatever any one may possess by nature, or may
have acquired by learning and art, to fit him for the work of
popular discourse, he must, if he has risen to any degree of
perfection in it, have acquired the power of losing sight of
these when actually engaged in its discharge ; the energies
of his mind must be wholly concentrated upon his theme.
Here, as in other accomplishments, * the skill of the artist
and the perfection of his art are never proved till both are
forgotten. The artist has done nothing till he has con-
cealed himself ; the art is imperfect which is invisible ; the
feelings are but feebly touched, if they permit us to reason
on the methods of their excitement. In the reading of a
great poem, in the hearing of a noble oration, it is the sub-
ject of the writer and not his skill, his passion not his
power, on which our minds are fixed. We see as he sees,
but we see not him. We become part of him, feel with

* L. X. 7.

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 1 29

him, judge, behold with him ; but we think of him as little
as of ourselves. The harp of die minstrel is untruly touched
if his own glory is all that it records. The power of the
masters is shown by their self-annihilation.* i

Such are some of the more vital and important considera-
tions which require to be attended to in connection with
the art of public speaking generally ; which, therefore, can
no more be neglected with impunity by the. preachers of the
gospel, than by any others who seek to influence their
fellow-men by their capacity of speech in public. No talent
or even genius in the speaker, and no peculiarity in the
subject he handles, can compensate for such neglect, or
render palpable defects in regard to the qualifications men-
tioned otherwise than an occasion of comparative failure.
It would not be easy, perhaps, to find in a brief compass a
description which might seem more thoroughly aimed at
exemplifying this than the account transmitted to us, mainly
by Isaak Walton and Fuller, of the justly-renowned Richard
Hooker. The delineation presents him to our view as a
man * of mean stature, and stooping, of humble or low voice,
his face full of heat pimples, gesture none at all, standing
stock-still, his eyes always fixed on one place to prevent his
imagination from wandering, insomuch that he seemed to
study as he spoke.' Add to which, what is said by Fuller :
* his s{yle was long and pithy, driving on a whole flock of
several clauses before he came to the close of a sentence ;
so, when the copiousness of his style met not with propor-
tionable capacity in his auditors, it was unjustly censured
for perplexed, tedious, and obscure.' In short, so defective
was he in all the more noticeable qualifications of an orator,
that one might almost suppose the trial to have been formally
made in Hooker, how the most profound intellect, the most
varied learning, the most fertile and lofty imagination, con-
joined with a winning simplicity of manners and a spirit of

^ Ruskin, Modern PaintetSy i. p. 22.

130 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

sincere fervent piety might all be possessed, and yet leave
•the possessor at the remotest distance from the position of
an attractive and powerful speaker. It was impossible,
indeed, that such a man could fail to produce at times deep
impressions in spite of all disadvantages, and be listened to
generally by a certain number with respectful and loving
affection. Even with the commonest audience, there were
passages so finely conceived and expressed, that they could
scarcely fail to fall upon the ear like the sound of sacred
melody, such as the following : * ' The light would never be
so acceptable were it not for the usual intercourse of dark-
ness. Too much honey doth turn to gall, and too much
joy even spiritually would turn us to wantons. Happier a
great deal is that man's case, whose soul by inward desola-
tion is humbled, than he whose heart is through abundance
of spiritual delight lifted up and exalted above measure.
Better it is sometimes to go down into the pit with him who,
beholding darkness, and bewailing the loss of inward joy
and consolation, crieth from the lowest hell, "My God,
my God, why hast Thou forsaken me ? " than continually to
walk arm in arm with angels, to sit, as it were, in Abraham's
bosom, and to have no thought, no cogitation but " I thank
my God it is not with me as with other men." ' But what-
ever effect occasional passages of this kind might have had,
they could not tell enough upon the general aggregate to
render Hooker, with all his gifts and excellences, I shall not
say a popular, but even what may be called an ordinarily
attractive and effective preacher.

It is time, however, to quit this more general part of the
subject, on which it was not my intention to do more than
indicate a few leading principles, or points demanding care-
ful consideration. We must now turn to those things which
have a more direct and special reference to that kind of
public speaking with which we are here more immediately
* Sermon on the Certainty and Perpetuity of Faith.

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 13T

concerned : the preparation and delivery of discourses on
things pertaining to the kingdom of God and the salvation
of men.

II. The ftting subjects of discourse for the pulpit, and the
solution of appropriate texts, — It has been the all but universal
practice in the Christian Church, since she possessed in any
measure of completeness the canon of Sacred Scripture, to
take some portion of its contents as the ground of the dis-
courses which are addressed to congregations when they
meet for purposes of worship. And the practice is in itself
highly commendable, and carries with it obvious advantages.
It is, first of all, an important as well as a becoming testi-
mony to the supreme authority of Scripture as the revelation
of God ; and as such, the Church's sole warrant and guide
in regard to all that concerns spiritual and divine things.
It virtually proclaims to all whom we address, ' To the law
and to the testimony;' here is the certain ground and
warrant of whatever as Christians we believe, and do, and
hope for. Then, this practice of preaching from a text
serves in a very natural and fitting manner to bring people
acquainted with the matter of Scripture, and to give them
both a more intelligent and more comprehensive knowledge
of the things which it presents to their faith and obedience.
Finally, it tends to impart a distinctive character both of
sacredness and unity to what is spoken, whereby the preacher
himself is benefited in having a channel, as it were, pro-
vided by the hand of God for the orderly presentation of
his thoughts on particular themes ; and the hearer also has
his recollections aided by a passage in the written word
which he can keep before him, or fall back upon as he may
need.

A certain choice, however, is necessary in regard to the
subjects of discourse. One is, not to set out with the idea
that any passage, or portion of a passage, in Scripture, simply

132 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

because it is an integral part of what is collectively the word
of God, may on that account be fixed upon as the proper
foundation of a discourse to an assemblage of Christian
people. The whole of Scripture, when rightly interpreted
and viewed in connection with its leading purport and de-
sign, is certainly profitable for religious instruction and pious
uses ; but not always profitable to such ends in the way of
public discourse. Its aim in some portions may be best
accomplished by private meditation, while others require to
be looked at complexly as parts of a general whole, and do
not so readily admit of being isolated, and made the ground
or occasion of a somewhat lengthened discourse. Con-
taining, as the Bible does, historical records of the human
family during many successive generations, touching inci-
dentally on an immense variety of circumstances and objects,
current events and settled institutions, in its didactic parts
referring to numberless productions of nature and works ,of
art, as well as to the things which most deeply concern the
present and eternal interests of mankind, — it were quite
easy to find in the Bible texts from which discourses could
be delivered perfectly textual in their character, and yet in
their tenor entirely alien to the great interests of Christianity.
The Rationalists of Germany, and the Unitarians of our own
country and America, when turning the pulpit, as they have
so often done, into an arena of philosophical, or simply
moral and political discussion, never needed to be at any
loss for texts to start with, and on which to hang their ideas.
Volumes of sermons have issued from the press, each with
their appropriate text, which as to subject and matter might
have suited the taste of an audience in ancient Rome or
Alexandria. And it is probable that there was no want of
texts, or occasional Scriptural quotations, in those continental
discburses mentioned by Dr. Ammon, one series of which
treated of subjects connected with rural economy and fallow-
grounds; another, of the cultivation of the silkworm; while

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 1 33

a third unfolded the duties of Christians on the approach of
a contagious disease among cattle. The pastors of evan-
gelical congregations are in little danger of falling into such
senseless extravagances ; their very position is a safeguard
against it But they may still be liable to go to some extent
astray, unless they are careful to keep steadily in view the
great end of preaching, which, like that of the Bible itself,
is the glory of God in the salvation of men. Where this is
rightly understood and appreciated, the preacher will feel th^t
he has something else to do than to search for texts and sub-
jects which are out of accord with the spirit of the gospel.

At the same time, a certain latitude should imdoubtedly
be allowed in this respect to the Christian pastor. He may
not be always preaching directly on the great theme, and in
his range of subjects may imitate in a measure the variety
and fulness by which Scripture itself is distinguished.
Nothing may be altogether excluded from the pulpit which
has an influential bearing on the Christian life, or admits of
being handled in a Christian spirit. But much of which
this can be said may still be unsuited to form the leading
topic of a sermon. The pulpit has not been erected, as
justly remarked by Vinet,^ * in order that everything may
be there treated in a Christian manner ; it has a special
object, which is to introduce the Christian idea into life.
I should say, then,' he adds, ' that everything which does
not conduce directly to edification ; everything which an
ordinary hearer cannot of himself convert into the bread of
life, or at least which the preacher does not acknowledge to
be such, should not be made a subject of his preaching.'
Or, if a licence may at times be taken to go somewhat
beyond this precise line, it should be distinctly announced
as a kind of exceptional effort, called forth by the circum-
stances of the moment, and of such a nature as to carry, in
a manner, its own justification along with it.

* ffomileticSi p. 51.

134 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

It is quite possible for a minister when going to preach
on a subject in itself appropriate to connect it with an
unsuitable text ; and here, perhaps, it is that preachers in
evangelical communities are most in danger of being be-
trayed into an impropriety in the choice of their pulpit
themes. There are several ways in which this may be done.
It sometimes, perhaps, takes the form of choosing a text
which, as the ground of a discourse on matters of grave
moment, has an indelicate, but more commonly an odd and
fantastic appearance, creating a sort of ludicrous bond of
association in the minds of the hearers between the preacher's
theme and the formal warrant or occasion found for it in
Scripture. And anything of such a nature is as much out
of place in connection with the text as with the discourse
preached from it. * Of all preaching,' says Baxter in his
own emphatic style, — * of all preaching in the world that
speaks not stark lies, I hate that preaching which tendeth
to make the hearers laugh, or to move their minds with
ticklish levity, and affect them as stage-players used to do,
instead of affecting them with a holy reverence of the name
of God.' What else could be the effect on a general
audience when hearing texts like the following announced
as the subject of discourse : ' The old shoes, and clouted upon
their feet ; ' ' The nine and twenty knives ;' * The unturned
cake ; ' or * The axe, alas ! Master, it was borrowed' ? Such
texts, or fragments of texts, have not unfrequently been
preached from ; some of them are associated with the name
of the eccentric Rowland Hill ; along with several others of
a like kind, they are found in a series of sermons which
appeared in this country not many years ago, with the
designation, * Sermons on unusual texts.' It is to be hoped
such texts will ever remain unusual^ and that if our ministers
are going to address their congregations on the subject of
violence and war, they will be able to connect it with a more
suitable form of words than Ezra's nine and twenty knives.

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 1 3$

and will light upon something more becoming than the old
and clouted shoes of the Gibeonites, from which to expose
the various workings of hypocrisy and deceit, and man's
vain attempts to mend himself. The object of choosing
such texts is too palpable to escape the notice of even the
humblest audience. They will readily perceive the tendency
it exhibits to attract notoriet}', and acquire a name for what
is smart and peculiar. But precisely as this object is gained,
the grand aim of preaching is lost, and the preacher himself
sinks to the level of the man who indulges in a perverted
ingenuity and a vicious taste.

Another and less offensive, though still decidedly objec-
tionable form of the same inappropriateness consists in
selecting texts, which only in a figurative, obscure, perhaps
even fanciful manner, can be made to express the ideas
which are to be deduced from them. Supposing the sub-
ject of discourse were to be the important theme of Christ's
righteousness, as imputed or savingly appHed to believers,
it would scarcely be wise to connect its illustration and
enforcement with such a text as Isa. xlv. 8, * Drop down, ye
heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteous-
ness,' a text, if I mistake not, chosen for that purpose by
the excellent Mr. Romaine, yet not fitly chosen, since it
is at best too general a declaration for so specific a doctrine ;
while a plentiful variety of passages might be found in the
later Scriptures which unfold it in a much more distinct and
categorical form. In like manner, if the subject were to be
the connection between faith and works, it would surely be
travelling out of the proper way for a fitting text to repair,
as has sometimes been done, to Ex. xxxix. 26, * A bell and
a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate;' the bell, as
the symbol of an articulate call, being taken to represent
the preaching of the gospel which demands faith from those
who hear, and the pomegranate following in close connec-
tion, pointing, as is conceived, to the fruit of holiness, which

136 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

ever springs from the belief of the truth. How many hearers
would be disposed to accredit the doctrine, were this a fair
sample of the texts that establish it? How many, after
every possible explanation has been made of this particular
text, would feel quite satisfied that the doctrine is really
expressed there ? And if so, how unwise is it to bring into
the very foundations of the subject an element of uncer-
tainty, and start as it were with a note of interrogation, an
involuntary doubt in the minds of our audience ! If a text
were chosen which exhibits the doctrine under a typical
or figurative aspect, it should still be one that admits of a
clear and easily perceived application to the subject of
discourse. For whatever the subject itself may be, and
whatever the specific character of the text on which it
is groimded, the latter should always possess two properties
in relation to the former ; it should be such as to present
a solid, in contradistinction from a fanciful or question-
able, basis of discourse, and it should be in its own nature
ample enough to bear all that in doctrine or duty is raised
on it.

In the Evangelical Church (so called) of Prussia, I may
notice there exists a temptation which is almost unknown
elsewhere, to hang sermons on texts with which they have
a very slender connection. The temptation arises from the
practice of having prescribed by public authority for every
Sabbath and religious festival of the year a series of Bible
lessons, from which the preacher is required to select the
subject of discourse. Hence there must either be a con-
siderable sameness in the pulpit ministrations, or some
ingenuity must bfc exerted to deduce a variety of themes
from a limited number of texts ; preachers must turn over
the passages submitted to them in every conceivable way,
and extract from them not only what they more directly teach,
but also what they incidentally suggest, or by some influential
process can be made to imply. The sermons of Rheinhard

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 137

are striking specimens of this sort of ingenuity. The miracle
of Christ, for example, in feeding the four thousand with a
few loaves and fishes (Mark viii. 1-9) furnishes a text for
discoursing on the duty of relying on opeself more than on
others. The narrative of the paralytic borne on a couch, and
let down in faith to the chamber where our Lord was teach-
ing (Matt ix. 1-8), is made the occasion for exhibiting the
kind of behaviour which ought to be maintained by Chris-
tians, on account of the confidence that is ready to be
reposed in them by thosf around them. The word of our
Lord to Peter in Luke v. 10, *From henceforth thou shalt
catch men,' gives rise to a lengthened exposition of the
principle, that the faithful discharge of the duties connected
with each one's particular calling forms a natural and fitting
qualification for the exercise of higher functions.

One cannot but feel that, in connecting such topics with the
texts mentioned, there is what carries an artificial and forced
appearance, the endeavour by a tortuous Hne of thought to
get at what should have been foimd accessible by a direct
approach. In a course of regular exposition through a book
of Scripture, it might be proper to introduce a few brief
remarks on the points thus incidentally raised in them ; but
it is another thing when the incidental in the text becomes
the one and all in the discourse. This cannot but be felt
to be unnatural ; it wants simplicity and directness. At the
same time, it may be perfectly legitimate and proper to single
out from a text some particular idea, which forms a subordi-
nate rather than the principal part of its meaning ; and on
this, occasionally at least, to raise a discourse which may
be designed to serve some special purpose, or to meet some
peculiar phase of thought prevalent at the time. Rheinhard
also furnishes a very suitable example of this description
in a sermon on Matt. ix. 24, where, when Jesus affirmed of
the daughter of Jairus that she was not dead but asleep, it
is observed of the people present that they laughed Him to

138 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

scom ; and of Himself that, notwithstanding, He proceeded
to raise her up again. On this Rheinhard takes occasion to
discourse, not of the miracle, or of the attributes of character
it manifested on the part of Christ, but of the truth that
Christians will often find themselves called to do what shall
appear foolish or ridiculous to the multitude ; that their
principles may be, and often cannot but be, regarded as
absurd, their faith in God illusory, their zeal for the divine
glory extravagant, their magnanimity indiscreet. And so
he urges on them the duty of looking above the superficial
multitude, of even suspecting their own piety if it does not
prove the occasion of a certain measure of opposition or
wonder among worldly men, and of being cautious lest they
should be led to join in casting ridicule or reproach on
those who are only going farther than their neighbours in
doing God service. A discourse of Dr. Chalmers on Acts
xix. 27 may be pointed to as another and not less happy
example of the same description. From the outcry of De-
metrius and his workmen, that their craft was in danger by
the spread of the gospel in Ephesus, he imdertakes to show
how perfectly compatible the growth and prevalence of
Christianity is with the commercial prosperity of a people ;
since, while it may operate to the discouragement or sup-
pression of some forms of handicraft and modes of gain, it
is sure to open the way to others, and these of a more
healthfiil and satisfactory kind than those it has supplanted.
Special applications of passages of Scripture after this fashion,
if confined to particular occasions, or employed only at dis-
tant intervals, may not only be free firom any just exception,
but productive of important benefits, serving as they do to
exhibit the pregnancy of God's word and the manifold
wisdom of the revelation it contains, in its adaptation even
to the affairs of this life and the ever-varying evolutions of
the world's history. But the practice should not be very
often resorted to ; and as a general rule, the principle should

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 1 39

be maintained, that the prominent ideas of the text should
also form the chief burden of the discourse that is profess-
edly based on it.

A still further form of misapplied taste or judgment in the
choice of texts has sometimes been exhibited, by turning
them into a cover for the display of wit, or for conveying
sarcastically, perhaps also sincerely, a rebuke to certain
persons in the congregation. In the hands of some, this
impropriety assumes the form only of an unbecoming levity,
or ludicrous employment of Scripture, which has already
been adverted to, and which, even when most cleverly done,
is still to be condemned, because unsuited to the dignity and
sacredness of the pulpit. It is still more objectionable when,
under the phraseology or connection of the text, a hit is
made at individuals ; ' for the levity in such a case is aggra-
vated by the indulgence of a personal pique, the gratification
of a testy humour, in a manner that must always carry an
ungenerous aspect, taking advantage of one's position to
shoot an arrow at those who have no power to defend them-
selves. Such liberties are scarcely known in this northern
part of the land ; but the greater tendency to the humorous
which is characteristic of England, a tendency which some-
times appears even on the tombstones disporting itself with
the dead, has also been wont to give rather strange exhibi-
tions of itself, after the fashion adverted to, from the pulpit.
I remember being told, when residing in an English parish,
that the minister had some time before been presented at
an episcopal visitation of the district as negligent of some
parts of parochial duty by a respectable solicitor, and that
on the following Sabbath he had chosen for his text, * And
a certain lawyer stood up, tempting him.' In a story very
commonly reported of Dr. Paley (in the little volume, for
example, by Mr. Christmas, on Preachers and Preaching)^
there is certainly what must be regarded as a much better
specimen of humour in this line. On the occasion of Pitt,

140 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

when still a comparatively young man, but already in the
proud position of Premier, revisiting Cambridge, where he
had studied, and receiving marked attention there from
many old associates, who were known to be eagerly looking
to him for preferments, Paley, it is said, gave forth for his
text the passage in St John's Gospel, ' There is a lad here
which hath five barley loaves and two small fishes ; but
what are they among so many?' * But the best in such a
case is bad ; the preacher of Christ's salvation necessarily
stoops from his proper elevation, when in the very discharge
of his office he makes himself known as a humorist. And
to display this character in the selection of his text, is
virtually to release his audience from concern about higher
things, and let the thought of amusement prevail over a
regard to edification.

In the choice of a text, however, something more is needed
than to consider how far it may itself be fitted to serve as
the foundation of a public discourse ; its suitableness also
to the preacher's powers and present or prevailing tone of
mind requires to be taken into account. That a striking or
impressive sermon has been preached by one person from a
particular text, is no reason why another, though perhaps
of not inferior abilities ^ a man or character as a Christian,
should expect to do the same. The theme, or the fonn in
which the theme has been presented, while suited to the
one, may somehow prove unsuitable to the other ; it may
call for the exercise of sensibilities and gifts, a reach of
thought or a kind of experience, which are far from being
equally shared by both. This is a point which each indi-
vidual must ascertain for himself. But let it be kept dis-
tinctly in mind, that there is a certain measure of adaptation

^ The story is not quite correct Paley did not actually preach before
Pitt He was not even at Cambridge When Pitt visited it ; but he
remarked to some one, that if he had been the preacher on the occasion,
such would have been his text See Life by Wayland, Foley's Works.

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. I4I

needed in the text to the preacher, as well as in the text
to the theme and the audience. Some can succeed well
enough with a general or comprehensive text, having power
to give it, by. means of suggestive thought and varied illus-
tration, the requisite individuality. But more commonly
the preacher will require a text which has itself some kind
of individuality, presenting specific points in the history of
God's manifestations, or in, the experience and character of
His people, for consideration. Preachers of considerable
mark have confessed that they could never find themselves
properly at home, excepting with texts of this description.
And when respect is had to the very great diversity which
exists in men's natural as well as acquired characteristics,
the greater preponderance of intellect in one, of feeling in
another ; here the logical, there the imaginative, and there
again the emotional powers in greatest vigour; in some only
the simpler phases known of Christian experience, in others
the sounding of all its depths and heights ; — it is manifest
that there must be subjects and passages in the word of God
which, in order to a properly successful and effective treat*
ment, will require minds of a particular kind of calibre and
religious susceptibility. A well-educated and experienced
teacher of divine truth may have a general fitness for all
topics, and yet only for some a special and peculiar adapta-
tion.

Whatever the particular subject may be on which the
pastor is going to discourse on the approaching Sabbath,
and whatever the text to be chosen for the purpose, there
is one rule which he should, as far as possible, regularly
observe ; he should have it sought out and fixed on in good
time, not left over to the latter part of the week. The
advantage of such a method is, that the njind is not only
relieved from the flutter of uncertainty and doubt when the
moment of actual preparation arrives ; but has already so
far become prepared that it has had leisure to examine the

142 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

text itself, so as to get thoroughly conversant with its import
and connection, and have the subject embraced in it turned
over in various aspects and directions. The truth has thus
had time to steeps as it were, in the mind, and enter in succum
et sanguinem; so that when one comes to apply formally to the
consideration of the subject, instead of hastily snatching at
the first thoughts that present themselves, there is already ob-
tained a general acquaintance with the main theme, and more
or less of the specific matter suitable for its illustration called
up. With the view also of facilitating this preliminary sort
of preparation, the practice is not unworthy of notice, which
has been followed with advantage by some, of noting in a
memorandum-book such texts as have, in the course of one's
reading or meditation, suggested themselves for themes of
future discourse, indicating at the same time the hnes of
thought which it seemed advisable to pursue in connection
with them. Topics and ideas occurring in this incidental
way are often helpful in striking the proper key-note for
more carefiil and prolonged consideration.

The suggestions now offered concerning the choice of
subjects of discourse, it will be understood, have respect
merely to the ordinary course of pastoral ministrations.
There are peculiar and exceptional cases, sometimes perhaps
furnished by the pastor himself, when he feels prompted to
deliver his views publicly on subjects important in them-
selves, yet somewhat away from the beaten track of pastoral
duty, as Dr. Chalmers in respect to his astronomical dis-
courses y sometimes, again, by the state of the congregation,
when, to save it from prevailing error, or recover it from
deep spiritual lethargy, a mode of preaching to some extent
peculiar may be required, as in Mr. CeciPs congregation at
St John's, or Mr. Robert Hall's at Cambridge. Mr. Dale
of Birmingham also, in a volume of Week-Day Discourses,
has given a very good example of the treatment of a class
of subjects far from unimportant, but which call for illustra-

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 1 43

tions and details that might seem somewhat out of place in
the regular ministrations of the pulpit But for cases of
such a nature no general instructions can be given ; each
must be carefully weighed and considered by itself.

III. The matter in pulpit discourses^ with reference especially
to fulness and variety, — In discourses intended for stated
congregations, it is undoubtedly of importance that there
should be not only appropriate matter, but that also in con-
siderable fulness and variety. Usually this ought to be the
case, though not by any means uniformly; for there may be
occasions and subjects, in respect to which it is the part of
wisdom to concentrate one's thoughts on merely one or two
ideas, for the purpose of giving them a greater prominence
or a deeper impression. This may sometimes be proper in
addressing audiences which we have reason to believe are
in a very ignorant or lethargic state of mind, when the one
object, in a manner, is to rouse to spiritual thought and
obtain a lodgment in men's minds for some grand principle
of truth or duty. It may also be proper, in dealing with
congregations which are partial and one-sided in their views
on some point of Christian belief or morals, when again the
great object of the preacher naturally is to drive them from
their false position, and have the light of conviction let in
upon them where precisely it is needed. It cannot be dis-
puted that some of Dr. Chalmers* most powerful and effective
discourses were of this description. They embody nothing
more than one leading idea; but this is usually so diversified
in the manner of statement, so varied in the illustration,
presented in so many fresh and vivid colours, that the atten-
tion of the audience was never allowed to flag, and the
impression produced in behalf of the engrossing theme was
like that of successive and ever-deepening strokes of some
mighty weapon. Such a style of preaching, however, requires
intense energy and concentration in the preacher to be prac-

144 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

tised with success. Very rarely, indeed, would it be safe
for persons possessed of only average powers to attempt
it when preaching to congregations which are composed of
different classes and conditions of people. Even when
done with success as regards the quality of the discourse,
few congregations would feel quite satisfied with it as a rule,
because wanting in the variety which is requisite for the
health and nourishment of their spiritual life. Preachers
should bear in mind that, as congregations generally consist
of persons differing not a little in their intellectual and
spiritual states, as well as in their external circumstances
and relations, there is needed somewhat of a corresponding
variety in the thoughts and considerations which are pre-
isented to them at their regular meetings for worship. Nor
should it be forgotten that, with the larger portion of those
addressed, the discourses they hear on the Lord's Day con-
stitute by much the greater part of the spiritual instruction
they are to receive, in all probability the only instruction
they are to get from a living voice during the entire week.
So that they will almost certainly feel like persons stinted in
their proper nourishment, unless matter for reflection, at
once solid in kind and considerably diversified in its manner
of administration, be imparted to them on the Sabbath.

The work of preaching is often considered with reference
to a specific standard of eloquence, according to which it is
either appreciated or condemned ; and when so considered,
the stirring of the emotions and the influencing of the moral
judgments and feelings, with the view of raising them to the
right spiritual tone, readily come to be contemplated as well-
nigh the one object to be aimed at. But this is never more
than a part of the proper aim and function of preaching. It
has to do as much with instruction as with persuasion ; and
the enlightenment of the understanding holds even a more
prominent, as it does also a prior, place in its formal design,
than the excitation of the feelings or the immediate exercise

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 14$

of the will. But, rightly viewed, the one aspect of the
matter might as well be included as the other; for the
didactic or instructive element is not less essential than
the suasive in the notion of true eloquence. The noblest
specimens of eloquence that have come down to us from
ancient times, or that have appeared in modem, are equally
remarkable for the measure of light they were fitted to im-
part in a brief compass to the audiences addressed, as by
their adaptation to rouse and interest their feelings. If you
take of the former class the oration of Demosthenes for the
crown, or of the latter Hall's sermon on modem infidelity,
or his discourse on the death of the Princess Charlotte, you
will not readily find productions treating of like subjects
which in the same compass contain a larger amount of solid
thought, and presented in a form better fitted to give the
minds of the hearers a just and intelligent apprehension of
the leading points proper to the occasion. Still, when in
ordinary language one speaks of eloquence or oratory, one
naturally thinks of what is chiefly addressed to the feelings,
what aims at rousing an apathetic indiflference or overcom-
ing a reluctant will by fervid argumentation or powerful
appeals. In the popular understanding it has come to be
associated with a certain degree of impassioned pleading,
with the view of impressing and moving the heart This,
imdoubtedly, has its place in the pulpit Yet there is much
also that belongs to a somewhat different category. For
amid the general knowledge which may be said to prevail
in connection with divine things, there is still always room
for plain instruction, such as is fitted to lay open the
meaning of Scripture, to explain and illustrate the all-impor-
tant matters contained in it, and to exhibit the nature and
extent of men's obligations in regard to them. Hence the
reason for a good deal of variety in pulpit ministrations,
since they have so much groimd to travel over, so many
phases both of tmth and duty to make familiar to men's

K

146 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

minds. Especially is it important for preachers in Scotland
to aim at such variety ; for they have audiences to address
which are constitutionally of a thoughtful and intelligent
character, and which never can remain long satisfied widi
any kind of preaching which does not furnish considerable
supplies of food for their intellectual and moral natures.
Something of a less solid, though possibly of a more showy
and sentimental kind, may be relished for a season ; but,
like a siuface stream, it is sure to discover its own shallow-
ness, and will soon be forsaken for what is really fitted to
enlighten and edify.. Even in connection with the same
ministry there are probably not many congregations in
Scotland that will not be able to distinguish between dis-
coiurses which are deficient, as compared with those which
are replete, in the respect under consideration, or that will
fail to appreciate what has been maturely considered, if only
delivered in a manner suited to their capacities and fitted
to engage their attention.

There is here also, however, a certain middle course which
is the best ; for it is possible to eir by excess as well as by
defect And if, in preparing to address a congregation on
any passage of ScrijJture, one should set out with the inten-
tion of saying everything of any moment that could be
advanced on the subject, the discourse might no doubt con-
tain a rich collection of material, but it would almost cer-
tainly fail of its proper effect with a general audience ; they
would feel fatigued and oppressed by it Some of our older
sermon writers fell into this mistake ; Barrow may be named
as a notable example. On some of the subjects discussed
in his sermons it is scarcely possible to suggest any relevant
consideration which had not already presented itself to his
own fertile mind. But then a sort of repletion is created.
The mind feels dissatisfied that nothing is left for itself to
supply j and a sense of weariness is experienced even in
reading so much upon the one theme, which would be

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. I47

greatly increased if listening to it as a spoken discourse.
Barrow's age, however, was one of patience and leisure, and
fondness for detail ; ours, on the contrary, is one of busi-
ness and despatch; and people might at least bear with
and even admire then what they would not tolerate now.
It is indispensable for the great ends in view that there be
selection; and in the discrimination necessary to select
what is most fitting and appropriate, lies a naaip. part of the
skill of an interesting and effective preacher, i He has to
leave as much unsaid as what he actually says.; and by the
judicious choice and excellent arrangement of iiis matter,
still more than by its quantity, he has to make liis impres-
sion. The ancient apothegm ascribed to Hesiod has here
a quite legitimate application, 'The half is more*than the
whole,* more, that is, with reference to the proper aim and
purpose of tiie speaker. By what he chooses out of the
whole materials before him he will be able to convey, in
the time allotted him, a hi dearer idea of the leading
features of his subject, and impress it more vividly upon
the minds of his audience, than if he attempted to fill up the
picture by crowdii^ into it every point of inferior moment
that might suggest itself to his mind.

There is, however, a possibility of another kind, a danger
of allowing the variety and fulness of which we have been
speaking to overshadow in a measure what should ever be
the grand theme of pulpit ministrations, a danger which the
very intelligence and generally diffused Christianity of the
age tends to increase. The fundamental truths of the gospel
are familiar to the bulk of his audience, as well as to the
preacher himself; and the cardinal doctrines of the Bible
having a recognised place in their creed, it seems no longer
needful to enter into any elaborate explanations concerning
them, or even to give Aem, perhaps, a very frequent and
prominent place in his subjects of discourse. The conse-
quence comes to be, that the greater is to some extent

148 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

sacrificed to the less ; not formally displaced, indeed, yet
practically allowed to lose the position of peerless value and
importance to which it is entitled. The preacher endeavours
to meet the desire of his hearers for instruction of a diver-
sified kind ; he strives to give interest to his pulpit mini-
strations by introducing a multiplicity of topics, which by
their number, if not by their freshness or importance, may
serve to keep alive attention. And thus the pulpit is apt to
be turned into an instrument of general religious culture
and moral improvement, instead of being employed as the
chosen means for awakening souls to a concern for salva-
tion, and bringing them under the powers of the world to
come.

Mr. Isaac Taylor, in one of his most thoughtful produc-
tions, Saturday Evenings a considerable time ago adverted
to the tendency of things in the direction now indicated.
He stated that, in the case of many an evangelical minister,
* the prime truth of the Scriptures scarcely occupies more
than the proportion of one to ten in the gross amount of
his public labours. The glory of Christ as the Saviour of
men, which should be always as the sun in the heavens,
shines only with an astral lustre ; or as one light among
others. It is a natural, though not very obvious conse-
quence of the intellectual progress which the religious com-
munity has made.' In regard also to what is called
intellectual ^reaching^ he says that it can hardly be made to
consist with a bold, simple, and cordial proclamation of the
message of mercy. Its fruit, he thinks, will commonly be
an obtuse indifference in regard to the most affecting objects
of the Christian faith. And he adds, * The tendency at the
present moment of the better informed portions of the
religious body towards intelligent frigidity is a grave matter,
and one especially which should lead to a reconsideration
of our several S5rstems of clerical initiation. The cause of
so fatal a practical error should be made known, if the fact

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 1 49

be SO, that numbers of those who come forth upon the
Church as candidates of the Christian ministry are fraught
with all qualifications and all acquirements, ikther than
fervour and simplicity of spirit in proclaiming the glad
tidings of life.'

The state of things here described, it will readily be
imderstood, had respect to England rather than to Scotland,
and to England mainly as represented by the Established
Church. It has prevailed to a considerable extent there for
many generations, and is largely owing to that almost exclu-
sive regard which in the more highly educated classes, and
especially in those who pass through tiie imiversities to the
Church, is paid to the cultivation of science and classical
learning, or to the general refinement of the taste and
manners, while special preparation and fitness for official
duty are comparatively neglected. It cannot, however, be
doubted that, since the remarks just quoted were penned,
the tendencies complained of have undergone abatement
In most things, not an insipid frigidity, but life, warmth,
activity, have become the order of the day. Even as regards
ministerial agency, it has seldom, perhaps, exhibited more of
lively and energetic working in England than at the present
time; however much room there may still be in many
quarters for improvement, and particularly in regard to the
free and earnest proclamation of the gospel. In our comer
of the land the change, so ^ as change can be marked,
has manifestly been in the right direction ; in the revival of
a more earnest Christianity, and a demand for that kind of
preaching which gives its proper prominence to the person
and the work of Christ. Still, there are causes in operation
which constitute an element of danger. The desire already
noticed, the necessity, in a sense, of diversifying the mini-
strations of the pulpit, is perhaps the chief one ; but this
again is increased by the growing literary character of the
age, and the tendency thence arising to assimilate prepara-

150 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

tions for the pulpit too closely in form and style to those of
the press 5 so that what they gain in elaboration, in correct-
ness, in vigour of thought or variety of illustration, Aey are
apt, in the same proportion, to lose in Scriptural simplicity
and spiritual power. The grand safeguard here, as in so
many other things connected with the ministry of the gospel,
lies in the personal faith and devotedness of the pastor.
If matters are but right there, they cannot be far wrong in
what may be called the very heart and blood of his mini-
sterial life. And as in the gospel itself everything is found
linked on one side or another to the mediation of Christ, so
in his public ministrations he will never want opportunities,
whatever may be the particular theme or passage handled,
to poipt the attention of his audience to the centaal object,
and press on their regard what is uppermost in his own,
namely, the surpassing love and beauty and preciousness
of the Crucified One, and the alone sufficiency of His great
salvation. The occasions, indeed, will be very few, if they
occur at all ; they will be exceptions to the general tenor of
his minist^al labours, in which the people are allowed to
depart from the house of God without having had presented
to them the essentials of saving doctrine. The Apostle to
the Gentiles, in this respect pre-eminently the model of a
Christian teacher, amid manifold diversities of subject and
object, things present and things to come, never lost sight
of his calling to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ,
and made the crucified Redeemer the Alpha and the
Omega of his testimony to men.

IV. The principles to be observed in pulpit discourses as to
order and arrangement. — Next to the substance of pulpit
discourses, or the matter contained in them, comes the con-
sideration of its order and arrangement. No absolute and
unvarying rule can, of course, be laid down here ; for dif-
ferent subjects necessarily call for different modes of treat-

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 151

ment as to form or method ; and sometimes what might be
best adapted to the mental capacities or acquired habitudes
of one person, would prove quite unsuitable to another.
At the same time, as there must be an order, so one may
say in general, it should be natural and, as far as possible,
textual^ which will be found to contribute very materially to
the securing of freshness and variety. For it is one of the
characteristics of Scripture, that it exhibits great diversity,
not merely in respect to the topics contained in it, but also
to the very form and manner in which they are presented.
And if the text is made the foundation, as well for the par-
ticular aspect and relations of the subjects handled as for
the leading ideas involved in them, it will be comparatively
easy to avoid falling into the same track; diversities of
many kinds will, as a matter of course, come into play. It
will be quite otherwise if texts ^e taken merely as mottoes
to head a discourse on some topic connected with Christian
faith or practice ; for as often as the same subject returns
for consideration, being dissociated from any individual
traits or special circumstances, it will naturally present itself
in much the same aspect that it did before, and be dis-
coursed of much after the same manner. Nor does the
result come to be materially different when texts are split,
as it were, into fragments, and each part taken as the ground
of a separate discourse. For, though this seems in one
sense to be making much of the text, in reality it is making
little ; since the text, by such a process, necessarily loses its
proper individuality, and the several clauses or words of which
it is composed are turned into so many mottoes or hints,
whereon to raise a discussion on some point of Christian
doctrine, or if of a practical nature, on some particular
course of duty. The Puritan divines were fond of this
method. A single text very commonly became in their
hands the introduction to a whole body of divinity, or gave
occasion to an entire series of discourses on some branch

152 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

of Christian life or experience. Baxter's Sainfs Rest is a
specimen, certainly one of the best specimens, of this kind
of sermon writing ; and so also are the more important of
Howe's works, his Blessedness of the Righteous ^ Delighting in
God, Living Temple, etc. They all started from an appro-
priate text, and by successive discourses from this they grew
into considerable treatises. Howe was possessed of a singu-
larly rich and elevated cast of mind ; so that he could infiise
a measure of freshness and variety into a system that was
essentially monotonous, and throw out new thoughts and
illustrations even when travelling anew the same paths
which had been trodden before. Yet with such a system
even he could not avoid frequently repeating himself, as any
one may see who will be at the trouble of comparing some
of the treatises with each other. He will find not the same
subjects merely recurring, but the same line of thought pur-
sued regarding them, sometimes also the same figures and
images used in illustration of them. To a congregation,
also, it must have been wearisome to hear always the same
text announced for consideration^ not on one or two con-
secutive Sabbaths merely, but for months. The simplicity
and freshness of gospel preaching was to a considerable
extent lost by such a method ; there was too much seen in
it of the hand of man, systematizing and arranging the
materials of Scriptural truth and duty.^

In the present day there is comparatively little danger of
a return to the Puritan method But the same method in
a sort of reduced form was much followed in Scodand at a
greatly later period, and is not yet, perhaps, altogether dis-
used. I have myself known persons, much beloved as men,
and highly esteemed as preachers, who followed it, though
never widiout a manifest disadvantage, arising from the

^ It maybe added that the preachers in question endeavoured to com-
pensate for the defect mentioned by often introducing texts incidentally,
and dwelling on them. Traill was particularly good at that.

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 153

comparatively little scope it afforded for the introduction of
the expository element, and the difficulty it presented of
avoiding an ever-recurring sameness. According to this
•plan of discourse, a text is taken embracing two or three
principal words or ideas ; and, instead of these being viewed
in their mutual connection, and discussed with reference to
the leading object in the eye of the sacred penman at the
time, they are taken apart, and made each the subject of a
separate discourse. For example, such a text as Eph. ii. 8,
* By grace are ye saved through faith,' would not be treated
in its obvious unity as a declaration of the fact that the
salvation of the gospel has its origin in the free grace of
God, and in consequence must be received by men in faith
as a gift from above. It would be divided into three dis-
tinct parts : the first comprising what is meant by the term
salvation^ the second what is to be understood by the word
graccy and the third the relation between faith and salvation
that is by grace. No doubt, by such a piecemeal treatment
everything that is in the verse might be fully brought out ;
but a great deal also that is not even incidentally foijnd in
it would almost certainly be brought into consideration ;
and a vein of thought .would inevitably be pursued, which
as a matter of course would be resumed when other texts
were chosen in which the same terms occurred. Thus, if
Heb. ii. 3, ' How shall we escape, if we neglect so great sal-
vation ?* were selected, and treated after the like fashion,
we should necessarily again have the import of salvation
discussed ; this would form, as before, the subject of one
discourse, and the thoughts presented in connection with
it could not deviate much from the previous track. Of this
style of preaching Dr. Campbell, with some justice, though
not without a measure of exaggeration, said that those who
follpwed it, a good many undoubtedly in his day, had in a
manner but one sermon. * The form, the mould, into which
it ,was cast was different according to the different texts,

154 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

but the matter was altbgether the same. You had invari-
ably the preacher's whole system — original sin, the incarna-
tion, the satisfaction, election, imputed righteousness, justi-
fication, and so forth.* He adds, that the preachers after'
this plan very slightly touched upon the duties which the
Christian religion requires ; evidently intending by the re-
mark to convey a censure on the evangelical preaching of
his day, as improperly negligent of the practical bearing of
Christianity ; for there can be no doubt that it was the more
evangelical portion of the ministers in Scotland who in
Campbell's time preached in the manner indicated by him.
But it never was true of that party as a class that they were
remiss in enforcing the moral obligations of the gospel, and
it was true beyond contradiction that the parishes in which
they ministered contained much more both of religion and
morality than those where a different sort of preaching
prevailed. With so cumbrous and formal a style of dis-
course, however, it may readily be supposed that the space
for practical instruction would often be unduly limited;
and they would also probably be influenced to a consi-
derable extent by the conviction, that the truth itself had
only to be received aright to bring forth the fruits of right-
eousness.

But to revert to the subject itself, widi tiie vi^w of ensur-
ing a natural and interesting variety in the exhibition of
gospel truth, and also of connecting that exhibition in the
minds of the people with the very terms of its annoimce-
ment in Scripture, it is of importance that the text be really
taken as the guide, in some way, to the order and method
of treatment, as well as to the subject itself which it suggests
for consideration. In order to this, it will, of course, be
necessary to view the matter contained in it, not so much
in its general and absolute character, as in its relative bear-
ing and connection of parts ; and to regard some as primary,
and others as subordinate, not with respect to what they

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 155

may be in themselves, but in respect to the statement made
concerning them in the particular text, and with an eye to
its more definite scope. Thus in the text just referred to,
* By grace are ye saved through faith,' it is not salvation
generally, or in its entire compass, that we are called to
consider, nor faith in all its acts and operations. The more
special object of the declaration is the gratuitous character
of salvation, as being of grace on the part of God, in con-
tradistinction to all that can be called works or merit on the
part of man ; and as the necessary counterpart of this, its
connection with the recipiency of faith in them who actually
experieace it A discourse founded on such a text, after
some preliminary statements, including perhaps, in order to
prevent all ambiguity, a brief explanation of the terms grace
and scUvation^ should manifestly have for its leading theme
the gratuitous nature of salvation ; which might be exhibited,
first, in regard to the provision of salvation through the
mission and work of Christ, the objective aspect of it ; then,
secondly, in regard to its appropriation by the soul through
the effectual agency of the Holy Spirit, the subjective aspect;
and from this may be shown, thirdly, the correspondence
between a salvation so provided and so administered on
the part of God, and the exercise of faith on ours, so as to
bring out clearly the principle, if by grace, then of necessity
by faith. And so in general, respect should commonly be
had to the particular aspect in which the facts or ideas are
presented in the text, and to the relation of greater or less
prominence in which they stand one to another.

It is to be understood that these are only general direc-
tions, not by any means to be converted into rules of
stringent uniformity. The Christian minister is under no im-
perative obligation to take the precise aspect and order of the
subject presented in the text as his own. He may chalk out
in this respect a path for himself, if some particular mode
of treatment has commended itself to his mind. Especially

156 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

he may do so when he is dealing with matters of a somewhat
general nature, and on which the testimony of a specific
text is less peculiarly needed ; in such a case, if a particular
line of reflection has suggested itself to him as the best for
his purpose, it were imdoubtedly wise to follow it. Yet I
would rather that this formed the exception than the rule ;
that for the most part discourses were thrown into a textual
form, the more so, as such a method tends to preserve a
habitual and reverent regard to Scripture, as the fountain
of all spiritual truth and instruction, while it cherishes the
feeling that the preacher is not so properly declaring his
own mind, as expounding and setting forth the mind of
God. He will thus be able to work ipto men's thoughts,
not the truth of God merely, but the very word in which
that truth is embalmed. And it is this word of the living
God which in all the more anxious and stirring movements
of the soul is the great thing, the true germinating seed ; as
was well noticed by the acute and pious Halyburton iii one
of his later sayings, * It is remarkable,' said he, 'that though
God may make use of the words of man in letting into the
meaning of Scripture, yet it is the very word of Scripture
whereby He ordinarily conveys the comfort, or advantage
of whatever sort ; it is the tool of God's own framing that
works the effect' * The history of genuine revivals, and in-
deed the private records of every ministry which has been
much blessed for good, afford constant illustrations of this.
And as it is the peculiar advantage of preaching above all
other kinds of public speaking, and the main secret of its
strength, that as it has the word of God to handle and apply,
so it should be the aim of every preacher — ^the very method
he employs should show it to be his aim — to do honour to
this word, and secure for its utterances an enduring place in
the minds of his auditors.

The whole, however, is by no means settled as to the
order and arrangement of discourses when it is admitted.

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 157

that as far as possible there should be an adherence to the
course of thought indicated in the text itself. For, ^th this
general understanding, different persons might still pursue
very different paths ; by one the ideas proper to the subject
might be exhibited in a clear, exact, and logical method ;
while, in the hands of another, the same ideas might be so
exhibited as to embarrass rather than assist the memory, and
disturb the natural sequence and connection of thought
There are preachers who seem always to be speaking to
the text, and yet make no satisfactory progress in its eluci-
dation j often, it may be, uttering suitable or even profound
thoughts, but in so loose or discursive a manner^ that it is
scarcely possible to retain any v>ery distinct recollection of
what has been said. And there are others who have a
method, and a method, too, based upon the text, who yet
fail to present their thoughts in that natural progression,
that dependence of part upon part, which is necessary to
sustain attention, and leave a definite in^ression of the
course of inquiry or reflection on the memory. It was, no
doubt, the differences observable in this respect, and the
great importance of having the train of thought rightly ad-
justed, that led Herder to say, * I easily pardon all defects
except those of arrangement' He meant, that defects of
this kind were more fatal, because they were like an organic
disorder in the system ; they struck the whole discourse with
feebleness, or involved it in confusion ; while others belong-
ing to the execution would affect it only in particular parts,
and might admit to some extent of compensation.

It is very justly said also by Vinet^ upon this point, that a
proper arrangement * not only throws aside that which wan-
ders from the unity of the subject, but assists also in finding
everything which is included in the subject Many things
which we had not previously seen are then discovered ;
many lines of thought are finished, many intervals are filled

^ Homiletics, p. 234.

IS8 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

Up. It is the same with order in the arrangement of a sub-
ject as with economy in that of a fortune; it enriches.
Besides, arrangement gives or restores to each of the ele-
ments of which the subject is composed its real importance.
Sometimes in separating ideas which were at first view con-
founded together; sometimes in grouping what appeared
separate, in managing contrasts, relations, subjects, or
comparison, and luminous reflections of one idea upon
another, we give to each of these ideas a new and unfore-
seen value.'

But when we have said this, we have said nearly all that
can be done in a general way. Subjects of discourse differ
so much, and so many diversities also exist in men's in-
dividual tendencies and habits of thought, that mkiute and
stereotyped prescriptions would be entirely out of place. It
is wiser to follow the discretion and judgment of Quinctilian,
who, at the commencement of his Book vii., when he
comes to speak of the arrangement that ought to be adopted
in forensic discourses, abstains from laying down specific
directions for every orator and every subject He merely
states that there ought always to be a divisio^ a breaking up
of the whole matter into distinct portions ; a pariitio^ that
is, a fitting and orderly collocation of those portions, so as
to connect properly together those that precede and those
that follow ; and a dispositioy or a right distribution of topics '
and ideas to their several heads. But he immediately adds,
that it may be expedient often to take different modes in
carrying one's plan into execution, and points in proof to
the two great speeches of iEschines and Demosthenes, in
which, while both treating of one subject, and both admir-
able in their respective kinds, a precisely reverse order was
followed. The accuser^ iEschines, began with the question
of right or law, where his strength lay ; the defender, De-
mosthenes, on the other hand, skilfully introduced all other
things which seemed -to favour his position first, and left the

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 1 59

question of law to the last, when he had already won the
^vourable opinion of his judges. In reference to discourses
for the pulpit, I would say first, that there should always be
some clear and definite arrangement of the subject in the
mind of the preacher, such as to admit of its being handled
in so many distinct and regularly distributed portions. No
matter whether it be an arrangement which has been
adopted or might suggest itself to others or not, let it only
be one that commends itself to the preacher's own mind as
fit and proper. Secondly, it ought to be of such a nature
that he can present it to the view of his hearers in a way
they can readily apprehend ; therefore an order that does
not turn upon minute and shadowy distinctions, and is
neither very meagre on the one side nor very prolix and
complicated on the other. And, finally, it should be an
order which exhibits some principle, not merely of connec-
tion, but also of progression ; so that there may be room for
the preacher's own mind growing, as it proceeds, in some
quality of thought or feeling, and room also for the minds
of the audience enjoying the interest of a conscious ad-
vancement The interest will inevitably flag on the part
both of speaker and of hearer if there is no sensible progress
in some definite line ; or if, in a later division of the subject,
there is a coming back again upon ground which has been
already traversed in an earlier. Whatever the precise line
thus marked out may be, whether it proceed from the more
general to the more particular, or firom the particular to the
general; from cause to effect, or firom effect to cause ; firom
doctrine to duty, or from duty to doctrine ; whatever it be,
there should, if possible, be some easily recognised pro-
gression, such as may enable speaker and hearer alike to
feel that they are not standing still or moving in a circle,
but proceeding firom one stage to another, in a course of
spiritual contemplation or rational inquiry.
These plain directions may suffice for ordinary cases.

l6o THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

But it should be ever borne in mind that nothing here can
be done, as it should be done, exactly to order ; that no
rules or prescriptions as to method can save the preacher
who would succeed in the proper treatment of his subjects
from thinking out his own plan, and adjusting the materials
of discourse for himself. He may fitly enough take hints ;
occasionally, may even adopt an order which he knows to
have been struck out by another ; but even then he must by
personal effort make it his own. And if to save himself
from such labour he should make a practice of resorting to
skeletons and outlines, he may rest assured that his dis-
courses will also retain not a little of the skeleton character;
they will not have much about them of the warmth of flesh
and blood. ^

I only add further, that while an order and a division
also should commonly be adopted, it does not follow that
this should always be formally announced. Usually, I think,
it should be so, as people naturally desire to know, when
going to be addressed at some length, what is the series of
topics likely to be brought under consideration. But a tame,
mechanical uniformity is to be avoided. Sometimes the
interest may be best sustained, and the sense of novelty

^ I have mentioned only one objection to the general use of such helps ;
but undoubtedly it is also objectionable, as Dr. Shedd urges, on the
score of morality ; not quite to the same extent that abstracting whole
sermons is, yet in a measure. *A preacher ought to be an honest
man throughout. Sincerity, godly sincerity, should characterize him
intellectually as well as morally. His plans ought to be the genuine
work of his own brain. Not that he may not, at times, present a plan
and train of thought similar to those of other minds ; but he ought not
to know of it at the time. Such coincidences ought to be undesigned,
the result of two minds working upon a similar or the same subject,
each in an independent way, and with no intercommunication. Then
the product belongs to both alike ; and the coincidence results from the
common nature of truth and the common structure of the human mind,
and not from a servile copying of one mind by another.' — HormUHcSy
p. 105.

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. l6l

gratified, by simply announcing as they arise the successive
heads of jdiscourse ; while the memory of the hearers may
be assisted by a brief recapitulation of the particulars near
the close. ^

V. The scope that may justly be allowed in preaching to the
individual traits and characteristics of the precuher, — It is a
question of some moment, especially as regards the structure
and composition of distourses, what scope should be allowed
to the preacher in the indulgence of any tastes, tendencies,
or habitudes of thought that may more peculiarly distinguish
him ? Should he, as a preacher of the gospel, endeavour to

^ Sensible and good directions, though somewhat brief, and, as far as
they go, coinciding with what has been said above on the structure and
method of discourses, may be seen in the Directory for Public Worship,
For example, * In analyzing and dividing his text, he is to regard more
the order of matter than of words ; and neither to burden the memory
of the hearers in the beginning with too many members of division, nor
to trouble their minds with obscure terms of art. In raising doctrines
from the text, his care ought to be, firsts that the matter be the truth of
God ; secondly i that it be a truth contained in or grounded on that
text, that the hearers may discern how God teacheth it from thence ;
thirdly^ that he chiefly insist on those doctrines which are principally
intended, and make most for the edification of his hearers. The doc-
trine is to be expressed in plain terms ; or if anything in it need ex-
planation, it is to be opened, and the consequence also from the text
cleared. The parallel places of Scripture confirming the doctrine are
rather to be plain and pertinent than many, and, if need be, somewhat
insisted upon and applied to the purpose in hand. The arguments or
reasons are to be solid, and, as much as may be, convincing. The
illustrations of what kind soever ought to be fiill of light, and such as
may convey the truth into the hearer's heart with spiritual delight. If
any doubt, obvious from Scripture, reason, or prejudice of the hearers
seem to arise, it is very requisite to remove it, by reconciling the seem-
ing difierences, answering the reasons, and discovering and taking away
the causes of prejudice and mistake. Otherwise, it is not fit to detain
the hearers with propounding or answering vain or wicked cavils, which,
as they are endless, so the propounding and answering of them doth
more hinder than promote edification.'

L

1 62 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

suppress these ? Or, should he here also give them free
scope, and let them impart their full impress to the form
in which he presents the great theme of salvation to his
fellow-men ? It is much more easy to put such questions
than to answer them. But, in the general, I would say,
that within certain limits, in the exercise of what may be
called a decent and regulated freedom, it is perfectly allow-
able to give pla)r to individual powers and susceptibilities,
to the qualities which distinguish one man's mind from
another ; and that it may even be for the advantage of the
work in hand, may tend to the more effective ministration
of the word, if that measure of freedom is exercised, by the
preacher.

There is a general principle here which is of wide appli-
cation to the relations and interests of the gospel ; and it
may not be out of place to make a few remarks on its more
extended bearing, before considering how it applies to the
specific subject of pulpit ministrations. We may the rather
do so, as it is the natural tendency of the prelections and
training of an academical course to aim at the production
of attainments which lie within the reach of all who are
possessed of respectable parts, rather than at the cultivation
of peculiar powers, and the exhibition of distinctive excel-
lences. A common education in theology, as well as other
branches of learning and study, necessarily makes account
of powers and attainments which the subjects of it have, or
may have, in common with each other, not of those in which
they mutually differ ; it aims at establishing, as far as pos-
sible, a sort of community of acquirement and fitness for
work. This is manifestly unavoidable ; no theological train-
ing could succeed in its objects without looking thus at the
general agreements more than at the specific and divergent
tendencies of the minds subjected to its influence. And,
indeed, it is requisite for the safe and profitable develop-
ment, in due time, of what is special and peculiar to each.

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 1 63

For it is a great principle, pervading all the departments of
nature, and needful to be borne in mind by those who would
attain to eminence in anything for which they may have
even a particular aptitude, that as there is nothing general
which does not also possess something individual, so there
is nothing individual but what springs from, or has its points
of contact with, the general. Whatever may distinguish one
mind from another in its powers and tendencies, its veins of
thought or emotional actings, — if it be simply an exercise or
development of what nature has given, not a diseased and
morbid affection, it will always find a measure of corre-
spondence in other minds, something, however inferior in
strength, to sympathize with it and respond to it

It is well that this should be fully known and considered
by those who are called by their position and aims in life
not only to acquire a certain distinction for literary gifts and
attainments, but also to possess the power of influencing the
judgments and moving the hearts of others. As such, they
must stand above, and yet be on a footing with, those they
have to deal with ; they must have certain things peculiarly
their own, and yet through these find access to the common
understandings and bosoms of their fellow-men; and this they
can only do by abstaining from all vicious excess, or by so
cultivating the particular and distinctive elements in their
mental constitution, as to prevent them from running into dis-
cordance with what is general. * One touch of nature,' one
great poet has said, 'makes the whole world kin;* it does so
even though the touch be in itself of a peculiar kind, though
it carry a very distinctive impress from the hand that gives
it ; yet, being a touch of nature^ conveying a genuine throb
of feeling from one human bosom to another, it cannot but
awaken a hearty response. On this ground a great German
authority, the greatest, indeed, in matters of this description
(Goethe), said to a youthful disciple (Eckermann), *You
need not fear lest what is peculiar should want sympathy.

164 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

Each character, however peculiar it may be, and each object
which you represent, from the stone up to man, has gene-
rality ; for there is repetition everjrwhere, and there is
nothing to be found once in the world.' Nothing, we must
understand him to mean, in its fundamental elements ;
these are not found once merely anywhere, but are repeated
in all objects of the same kind, while still in every particular
object they have their specific combination and their cha-
racteristic development. So that if there should be in any
writer or public speaker some preponderating talent or bias
which is allowed to grow into a marked characteristic, it
may be done, not only without the risk of his thereby losing
hold of the sympathies of his fellow-men, but even with the
effect of securing for him a firmer and deeper hold of them
than might otherwise have been possible. For such is the
constitution of the human mind, that so long as the indi-
vidual characteristics of thought and feeling root themselves
in the general, their very individuality gives them a freshness
and power^ it wins for them a sway over our hearts which
an undistinguished flatness and generahty never can com
mand. We are touched by the greater strength and pro-
minence of that of which we are ourselves not altogether
unconscious ; touched the more, as we see it working with a
buoyant force and energy, far beyond anything of which
we know ourselves to be capable.

The most eminent example of this in the religious sphere
is Christ, viewed simply as the great teacher of the world ;
since, appearing as He did in an age and generation re-
markable for their commonplace, one might almost say
their effete character, there yet is in His manner of teaching,
alike in respect to meaning and form, the expression of an
individuality so marked, that nothing similar to it has ever
again appeared among men. Yet nowhere can we find words
that are in such general accord with the heart of humanity,
words that reach so far and pierce so deep ; the power of

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 165

which is felt equally among high and low, by the man of
profound culture as by the unlettered peasant What a
depth was there in His look into nature ! In His revela-
tions, what a disclosure of the mind and purposes of Heaven !
Yet, withal, what a transparent simplicity in the one ! And
in the other, what profound agreement with the better
cravings and convictions of the enlightened reason ! Among
the leading apostles, also, you see a measure of the same
striking but genuine idiosyncrasies ; each giving indication,
in his own particular way, of characteristic peculiarities of
thought and feeling; but along with these combining so
much of simplicity and naturalness, that all who read their
productions in a right spirit feel in unison with them, as if
there were the answering of heart to heart ; and this even
in regard to the more peculiar parts of their writings. I
should never, perhaps, myself have thought, if discoursing
of the propriety of that retired demeanour which becomes
the modesty of women, of connecting it with their length-
ened tresses and overshadowing veils; and these again
with their original formation out of man, and the place they
were from the first destined to hold in society. I might
have wanted the spiritual insight and delicacy of perception
to see in such things nature's signs and witnesses to the fit
position and proper bearing of woman. But when presented
as they are by the Apostle Paul in his First Epistle to the
Corinthians, I am quite ready to enter into their spirit, and
recognise their suitableness. I am sensible that they have
a foundation in nature ; and he who acts for me as nature's
interpreter in the matter, applies in doing so a touch that
makes me kin to him.

When speaking thus of nature, I am not to be under-
stood as meaning that all here is simply of nature, as in
the case of the poet, the artist, or the orator. In the
sacred writers primarily, and then also in those who at any
period have to discourse of divine things, a higher element

1 66 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

comes into play ; one by which nature is raised above itself,
and sanctified to do service to God. Yet nature, let it be
remembered, is not dissolved by this higher element; and no
more dissolved in its separate individuality than in its general
powers and properties. Every distinctive bent or original
impulse of nature may still have its free and genial exercise,
only elevated in its aim, hallowed in its forms of mani-
festation, by the baptism it has received into the spirit of
truth and holiness. When so baptized, it is not lost, but
renovated, and made capable of loftier aspirations and more
energetic movements.

One has only to reflect how it is with the common run of
believers. Of those who become, through the reception of
the truth, sincere and earnest followers of the Lord Jesus
Christ, a very large proportion are, no doubt, persons of
quite ordinary minds, without any remarkable natural charac-
teristic, either as to capacity for thought, sensibility of heart,
or strength of will ; bearing, indeed, no very marked individu-
ality in any respect But from the moment they come under
the power of divine truth, and are made partakers of the
gift of God, this itself stamps them with an individuality ;
it quickens into action powers and motions which were
latent before ; in one prominent direction their mind acquires
a determined bent ; and instead of the original tameness
and insipidity which was wont to appear in their general
tone of thought and feeling, there is now an intelligence, a
discernment, an appHcation of the right and good, some-
times even an elevation of spirit and strength of devoted-
ness, which throw around their state and character a well-
defined and estimable personality. Still more will such an
effect of vital Christianity be perceptible in any one if he
should be distinguished by any of the larger gifts of nature,
whatever may be its precise character; whether it may hold
more directly of the reason, the imagination, the emotions,
or the will, liie more thoroughly it becomes imbued with the

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 167

spirit of the gospel, and is directed into the channels of
Christian worth and usefulness, the more will it acquire, so
to speak, its proper set, and work to the production of im-
portant results.

Now it is the same thing, only in a higher degree and
more conspicuously displayed, which often discovers itself
with the more eminent preachers of the gospel, in their
more impressive and memorable utterances. In listening
to these, nothing perhaps strikes us more than the seeming
naturalness of what is spoken, and its fitness and force for
the occasion, although it may be such as would probably
never have occurred to ourselves, or if in substance it had
occurred, would not have been thrown into the touching or
impressive form that it has assumed in the speaker's hands.
Take the following, for example, from F. Robertson, as
illustrative of the unexpectedness coupled with the cer-
tainty of the Second Advent :^ * Every judgment coming of
Christ is as the springing of a mine. There is a moment of
deep suspense after the match has been applied to the fuse
which is to fire the train. Men stand at a distance and
hold their breath. There is nothing seen but a thin, small
column of white smoke, rising fainter and fainter, till it
seems to die away. Then men breathe again . . . [but
presently] the low, deep thunder sends up the column of
earth majestically to heaven, and all that was on it comes
crashing down again in its far circle, shattered and blackened
with the blast. It is so with this world. By God^s word
the world is doomed. The moment the suspense is past.
. . . We have fallen upon days of scepticism. There are
no signs of ruin yet We tread upon it like a solid thing
fortified by its adamantine hills for ever. There is nothing
against that but a few words in a printed book. But the
world is ruined ; and the spark has fallen ; and just at the
moment when serenity is at its height, " the heavens shall

^ First Series of Ser, p. 177.

1 68 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt
with fervent heat, and the feet of the Avenger shall stand
on the earth." *

Or, to take an example which carries with it a still more
marked individuality, what a service does imagination render
to the moral energy and fervid reasoning of Dr. Chalmers,
not only in his astronomical discourses, but also when hand-
ling a much commoner theme, the utility of missions ! He
is combating the objections raised against them by the
worldly-minded and unbelieving, and in doing so appeals
to the effects which had been accomplished by means of
them on the moral and religious aspect of the Highlands of
Scotland. * What would they have been at this moment,'
he asks, * had schools, and Bibles, and ministers been kept
back from them, and had the man of a century ago been
deterred by the flippancies of the present age from the work
of planting chapels and seminaries in that neglected land ?
The ferocity of their ancestors would have come down, un-
softened and unsubdued, to the existing generation. The
darkening spirit of hostility would still have lowered upon
us from the north, and these plains, now so peaceful and so
happy, would have lain open to the fury of merciless inva-
ders. O ye soft and sentimental travellers, who wander so
securely over this romantic land, you are right to choose the
season when the angry elements of nature are asleep. But
what is it that has charmed to their long repose the more
dreadful elements of human passion and of human injustice?
What is it that has quelled the boisterous spirit of her
natives ? And while her torrents roar as fiercely, and her
mountain brows look as grimly as ever, what is it that has
thrown so softening an influence over the minds and manners
of her living population?' Here a vivid imagination lends a
most effectual aid to the reason, and, as by a sudden blaze
let in from a higher region, flashes such conviction on the
mind as might well shame to silence /all further opposition.

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 1 69

But a Still higher service was exacted of this faculty
when Robert Hall, at the close of his wonderful sermon on
* The sentiments proper to the present crisis,* the crisis,
namely, of 1803, when the country was preparing to plunge
into a most formidable war with Bonaparte, after having
wound up his hearers to the loftiest pitch of excitement in
respect to the necessity and justice of the impending
struggle, referred to the virtuous heroes, legislators, and
patriots of every age and country, as bending from their
elevated seats to witness the contest, as if they were incap-
able of enjoying their repose till they saw the matter brought
to a favourable issue. And then, apostrophizing those de-
parted worthies as actually present, he exclaimed, * Enjoy
that repose, illustrious immortals ! Your mantle fell when
you ascended ; and thousands, influenced with your spirit,
and impatient to tread in your steps, are ready to swear by
Him that sitteth upon the throne, and liveth for ever and
ever, they will protect freedom in her last asylum, and never
desert that cause which you sustained by your labours, and
cemented with your blood.'

A personification and appeal like this reached the very
borders of that licence which must be allowed to imagina-
tion in the pulpit, and could only have been conceived and
executed with the least prospect of success by one in whom
the imagining faculty itself was strong, and by him only if
he had wrought up his audience by previous descriptions
and appeals to somewhat of the same rapt fervour with him-
self. He certainly had done so ; they were at the moment
like persons carried out of themselves, borne along by an
impetuous torrent to think as the preacher thought, ai^d feel
as he felt. Such, too, is reported to have been the case
in a closely similar example of Whitfield's preaching, one
characterized by the boldest flight of imagination he is
known to have attempted, when toward the conclusion of a
fervid discourse, throughout which his soul had been, as it

1 70 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

were, on fire with zeal and love for the conversion of sinners,
he demanded of his audience what account attending
angels should carry to heaven of the tidings and invitations
he had been addressing to them ; and as if afraid that the
account should be prematurely closed, nay, as if actually
seeing the heavenly messenger already on the wing, sud-
denly broke out with an imploring cry to Gabriel to stop,
that a few more sinners might have time to send on high
the news of their blessed return to God, and then with
increased fervour briefly reiterated his appeals to the hearts
and consciences of his auditors.

By all accounts the effort in this case also was successful;
the impression upon the audience was in the highest degree
powerful and solenm ; but it could only have been so by
preacher and audience alike having risen, through what
went before, to a kind of enchanted ground, so as to have
lost sight, in a manner, of the distinction between the visible
and the invisible, the angelic and the human. Such things
defy all imitation ; and those who would attempt to repro-
duce them (as in respect to this flight of Whitfield I have
known a very common-place preacher do in a village con-
gregation), only succeed in making themselves ridiculous.
Peculiarities of any kind, and peculiarities of a far less
marked description than those just referred to in connec-
tion with the imagination, can only appear natural, and
strike a sympathetic chord in the breasts of others when
they spring forth as from their native soil, and seem to
blossom in the proper time and place. They must proceed
from the cultivation of a real talent, not from the artificial
search after what is unusual, or the vain attempt to wield on
an occasion a giant's weapons. This can produce nothing
great or good, and is sure to run out into grotesque forms,
or explode in fancifiil conceits. Here, above all, simplicity,
genuine and unaflfected, is requisite, showing itself in a
determination to use only what is properly one's own, to

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 171

appear to have just what is actually possessed, and to feel
what is really felt. In so far as this is done, even though
the talent exercised may not be of the highest kind, yet
being a reality, and not an affectation, having its foundation
in nature, not assumed for a purpose, its manifestation will
always meet with some response, and will succeed greatly
better than any pretension could do in a higher line of
things. For not only does nothing grow by mere imitation
(nihil crescit sola imitaiione — Quinct.\ but the mind that
makes the attempt to grow after that fashion is perpetually
in danger of shooting into wrong directions, forcing itself
into forbidden paths, and betaking to appliances which only
create a recoil

It is therefore very justly said by Vinet,* * that while art
in a sense is one^ it is not so in all senses \ it multiplies itself
with individuals ; it individualizes itself in each. The ques-
tion which will one day place itself before you will not be.
What ought one to do ? but. What ought / to do ? In this
preparatory period oratorical discoiurse may appear to you
as the object ; in the active labours of the ministry, it will
only be one means of attaining an actual object on occasions
which will actually resemble no other. The professor you
hear, the rhetorician you read or listen to, cannot make
that rhetoric individual to you. Every one must do so for
himself. It is not meant by this that each must have all, as
it were, within himself; that he must be indebted for nothing
to others, cop)dng after nothing wherein others have ex-
celled, lest he should be chargeable with a vicious or feeble
imitation. No ; he should indeed beware of imitating in
others what could not come naturally to himself, and should
not even be partially influenced by the thought or manner
of another without being at pains to assimilate it to himself
For if the things which proceed from his lips are to become
a power in the hearts of others, they must first have struck

^ HomileticSf p. 25.

172 tHE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

their roots into his own spiritual being; they must teem
and germinate within him, and mingle with the essence of
his spirit ; and must shape themselves into a new original
growth.*

But with this caution, on the one side, against a too close
approximation to others, especially in regard to what is
somewhat peculiar to themselves, there is undoubtedly a
legitimate benefit, on the other, to be derived from the
study of the best models in those particular gifts and
attainments wherein each most notably excels. Those, for
example, who have comparatively little imagination, may
have that little stimulated and improved by familiarity with
the productions of those who have been distinguished for
the large possession and happy use of the faculty. The
man of discursive tendencies, apt to ramble in his . cogita-
tions and string his ideas somewhat loosely together, may
have his reasoning powers strengthened, and his capacity
for discoursing profitably on divine things increased by
making a special study of such works as are remarkable for
the lucid order and the argumentative skill they exhibit in
the treatment of their respective subjects. And, in like
manner, the man of dry intellect, or plain solid sense, may
catch some inspiration of a livelier kind by sitting at the
feet of those who are masters in the popular modes of
address by means of touching allusions to Bible story,
appropriate illustrations from the field of nature, or the
incidents of every-day life. Though not destined to excel
in such arts, yet he may acquire a certain facility in the use
of them.

In regard to the persons themselves who are possessed
naturally of some marked mental characteristic, the chief
caution to be exercised is to beware of running to excess,
indulging the special and peculiar, till, fi*om forming an
attractive distinction, and being an element of power, it
becomes a sort of excrescence, which by its undue prepon-

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 1 73

derance hinders the proper action of other faculties of the
mind, or by its eccentricities serves rather to tickle people's
fancies than promote their edification. A tendency to
pathos, for example, may be developed to the hurtful
neglect of the manly exercise of reason, and the niursing of
a comparatively weak, mawkish, sentimental piety. The
simply intellectual and logical powers, on the other hand,
may be allowed to carry it so completely over the sympa-
thetic and emotional, that the discoiurse shall become little
more than a fine speculation or a well-reasoned argument,
with something, possibly, to instruct or convince, but nothing
to quicken or arouse, nothing to satisfy the spiritual appetite
with the food it natiurally desires and longs for. But more
than either of these, or indeed than any other prominent
characteristic, is the danger, in the present day, of letting
loose the imagination, where this faculty exists in peculiar
strength, by a profiision of images, or multiplying unduly
pictorial representations. A power of this kind is undoubtedly
a great advantage to a preacher. It enables him to bring to
his hand a ready supply of the imagery which charms by its
beauty, or interests and instructs by its fresh. combinations
and striking analogies. But on this very account it is ex-
tremely apt to assume an undue prominence in the structure
of the discourse, and even to lose, in a measure, its proper
character, to pass from a means to an end. Whenever the
preacher glides into this excess, he may be said to have
drifted from his mooring, he is but dallying with his theme.
' For every one must recollect,' as is well said by Mr. H.
Rogers,* * that if a speaker is in earnest he never employs
his imagination, as the poet does, merely to delight us ; nor,
indeed, to delight us at all, except as appropriate imagery,
though used for another object, necessarily imparts pleasure.
For this reason illustrations are selected always with a refer-
ence to their force rather than their beauty, and are very

* Essay on Sacred Eloquence,

174 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

generally marked more by their hoinely propriety than by
their grace and elegance. For the same reason, wherever it
is possible, they are thrown into the brief form of metaphor;
and here Aristotle, with his usual sagacity, observes, that
the metaphor is the only trope in which the orator may
freely indulge. Everything marks the man intent on serious
business, whose sole anxiety is to convey his meaning with
as much precision and energy as possible to the minds of his
auditors.' Mr. Rogers therefore wisely cautions preachers,
and especially young preachers of imaginative powers,
against throwing in epithets and employing images mefely
because he thinks them beautiful. * As regards real impres-
sion, 'there is no style which has so little practical effect,
even when there is real genius in it. The admiration which
it so commonly awakens, but shows that the minds of the
auditors are fixed rather upon the man than upon the subject;
less upon the truths inculcated than upon the genius which
has embellished them. The speaker has but succeeded in
attracting the eye upon himself and his power of discourse,
but it is a success won at the expense of what is his avowed^
and ever ought to be his real object*

Here, again, the only effectual safeguard lies in the per-
sonal state of the preacher. If he has the true spirit of his
office, the singleness of eye and deep practical aim which
are proper to one whose soul is alive to the great realities
of salvation, and who feels his very life bound up with the
success of his mission as an ambassador of grace, he will
subordinate his use of imagery, like everything else, to his
one grand aim. He cannot allow himself to play freaks
with his imagination, in order to garnish his speech with
sweet flowers, or get up a succession of graphic pictures
merely for the sake of gratifying the taste or gaining the
applause of his hearers. He has higher objects in view,
although in aiming at their accomplishment one person
may, the bent of nature so inclining him, infuse more of the

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 1 75

graphic and pictorial into his representations than can be
done by others. He may do so even more freely in the
present age than he could well have done in the last; for,
there is now, through all departments of literature, a strong
current running in this direction ; and the eloquence of the
pulpit, like popular speech generally, must to some extent
bear * the form and pressure of the time.' Desiring to speak
to men's bosoms, it must adapt itself to existing habits of
thought, and take advantage of prevailing tendencies. But
still only within definite limits, never so as to do violence to
the fundamental laws of human discourse ; therefore, as
regards the point now more immediately before us, never
forgetting that for purposes of persuasion the imaginative
faculty has but a subordinate part to perform, should be used
only as an occasional handmaid, not obeyed as an imperious
mistress ; and that where the success of the speaker is
greatest, the materials it fiimishes are never more than
sparingly introduced.

Indeed, one may say, in regard to the highest species of
pulpit eloquence, — that in which the theme of discourse is
so thoroughly transfused into the minds of the audience that
the speaker himself is forgotten, speaker and hearer being
alike absorbed in thought concerning the interests of an
eternal world, — it never almost is the preponderance of any
one faculty that has to do with the effect, but rather the
happy combination of various faculties, only these quickened
and ennobled, intensified to the highest degree of spiritual
action by the powerful working of God's Spirit and the felt
apprehension of divine things. The discourses which have
produced the most profound impressions at the time, and
which have been found afterwards to have yielded the
richest harvest of spiritual good, have been of this character.
Such, for example, appears to have been the discourse of
Livingstone at the Kirk of Shotts, which scattered the seeds
of a Hving faith through hundreds of bosoms in the Vale

176 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

of Clyde. Such, also, was the extraordinary discourse on
missions by Dr. Mason of New York, which made even
experienced ministers of the gospel feel as if they scarcely
knew till then what preaching should be, and ,gave a fresh
impulse to their minds. Such was the character of one of
Mr. Toller's sermons, a sermon every way impressive in
itself, but rendered still more so by the pale, emaciated
appearance of the preacher, as we learn from the strik-
ing account given of it by Mr. Hall. *A11 other emotions,'
he says, * were absorbed in devotional feeling ; it seemed to
us as though we were permitted for a short space to look
into eternity, and every sublunary object vanished before
the powers of the world to come. Yet there was no con-
siderable exertion, no vehemence, no splendid imagery, no
magnificent description; it was the simple declaration of
truth ; of truth, indeed, of infinite moment, borne in upon
the heart by a mind intensely alive to its reality and grandeur.
Criticism was disarmed ; the hearer felt himself elevated to
a region which it could not penetrate; all was powerless
submission to the master-spirit of the scene.' Such, un-
doubtedly, when viewed with reference to the gre.at end of
the ministry, is the highest style of preaching ; and it is
reserved, not for the man distinguished merely for powerful
intellect or lofty imagination, but for the man whose con-
versation is in heaven, and whose soul lives and breathes
amid the realities of salvation.^

^ It is quite possible to find what have the appearance at least, per-
haps also the reality, of exceptions to some of the statements made in
this section. The maxim of Pope here also has its application —

' Great wits sometimes may gloriously offend.
And rise to faults true critics dare not mend.'

Men of genius, or of power so varied and attractive as to have nearly
all the charm of genius, may in their vocation as preachers attain to
great and deserved eminence, even though in some respects violating
the rules which have approved themselves to the most matured critical
judgment. By means of their peculiar resources they are able to bear,

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 1 77

This ought to be the more thought of and the more
earnestly coveted, that it springs so much from those
spiritual qualities which must ever constitute the more
essential elements of the Church's power for good in all
her departments of action and duty. It is that the Church
is a society, holding not of earth, but of heaven ; connected
by a living bond with the realities of an eternal world; con-
nected by such a bond with Christ, the glorified Redeemer,
so that ^e higher life that is in Him may be continually
manifesting itself in the spirit and behaviour of her mem-
bers. It is this which most of all enables the Church to
act with reforming and blissful energy upon the world. And
the ministers of the Church, those who are her more peculiar
agents and representatives, both for keeping the flame alive
in her own bosom and bringing it to act with quickening
and attractive force upon the masses lying near and around
her, while they may justly prize, and should diligently
cultivate, such gifts of nature or resources of learning as
they may have at command, still should feel that the main
secret of their strength lies in the measiure in which they
themselves possess that higher endowment, that spirit of
life in Christ Jesus, and by word and deed can transfuse it
into their ministerial agency. God grant that there may be
this feeling in all of us, and a fixed desire, through divine
grace, to have it brought forth into practical manifestation !

VI. The style proper to the pulpit^ and the degree of attention

and even to wield with effect, armour which in the hands of other men
would only lead to misdirected effort or palpable failure, as in the em-
ployment, for example, of extended pictorial representations, which the
late Dr. Guthrie certainly used sometimes with wonderful skill and
success, but which many others have tried with no result but that of
entertaining the fancy of the hearer, or begetting admiration of the
artistic power of the preacher. Men should be well assured of their
special aptitudes and gifts before they venture upon marked deviations
from established principles.

M

178 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

that should be paid to it, — Some of the remarks made under
the last division had nearly as much respect to the style as
to the matter of discourses ; for in certain of its aspects the
one readily runs into the other. But the subject of style
demands a separate consideration, since not a little depends
on it for the efficient ministration of the gospel. At the
same time negatively^ and with respect to its proper place, I
would say, that it should not be much taken apart, as a
thing to be considered or cultivated by itself Some men
of note, seeing how much practically turns on style, viewed
as the right setting of the thought, have expressed them-
selves somewhat incautiously on the subject. They have
spoken so as to convey the impression that style, in a man-
ner, is everything, and that the chief pains must be bestowed
upon this by those who would attain to a high place as
preachers of the gospel. To speak after such a fashion
gives, I believe, an exaggerated idea of the matter for effec-
tive oratory of all descriptions, and in particular of that
description of it which should be aimed at by preachers of
the gospel. Style is but the mirror of the thought, and the
one may be said to be perfect if it is in due correspondence
with, or gives a just reflection of, the other ; but if the cast
of thought be feeble or confused, so naturally will be the
style ; and then it is not so much the mirror as the thing
mirrored which calls for rectification. It is justly, therefore,
remarked by Vinet,i that * the ambition merely to speak
well, in proportion as it obtains an ascendancy over the
minister, degrades the ministry. ... A good style is
necessary, but a good style does not come by itself. The
style is not superadded to all the rest ; it is a labour of the
mind and of the soul which has only to be carried out.'
Precisely here, indeed, lies the distinction between the true
orator and the mere rhetorician, who may charm by his
language, and delight the ear as by the music of sweet

1 HomileticSf p. 320.

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL 6FFICE. 1 79

sounds, but leaves no abiding impression, accomplishes no
practical result. His mind, in short, is greatly too much
occupied with the adjustment of words and sentences, while
the real orator has his soul stirred with important ideas, and
has no further concern about the form of expression given
to them than that it should fitly represent the thoughts and
feelings of which he seeks to be delivered.

Hence the saying of Montaigne, *When I see these
excellent ways of speaking, I do not say that they are well
written, but that they are well thought.' The meaning is,
that in the happier efforts of mind there is such a connection
between thoughts rightly conceived in the mind and the
proper mode of expressing them, that the one by a kind of
moral necessity draws the other along with it ; or, as he
again expresses it, * Whoever has in his mind a vivid and
clear idea will express it well enough in one way or other.'
Hence, also, the happy distinction drawn by Augustine, in
the case of the Apostle Paul, between following the rules
of eloquence and eloquence following the excellent thought
embodied in the discourse : * Sicut apostolum praecepta
eloquentiae secutum fuisse non dicimus, ita quod ejus
sapientiam secuta sit eloquentia, non negamus.*^

It were therefore a piece of folly in any public speaker,
but pre-eminently in a preacher of the gospel, to address
himself to the task of elaborating fine periods, and con-
structing sentences according to rule. By such a course he
could, at the most, only draw attention upon himself, and
win the petty distinction of being a man of superficial polish
or rhetorical skill ; a distinction not to be coveted as a prize,
but rather to be shunned as a misfortune, by any one who
' aspires to the possession of a real power in carrying the
convictions and swaying the judgments of his fellow-men.
All this, however, is merely negative ; it touches only on
what is not to be sought after or done. But what, on the
1 Verbaque praevisam rem non invita sequentur. — Hor.

l8o THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

Other side, are some of the leading qualities which ought to
appear in the style of those who can so think and so ex-
press themselves, as to exercise a salutary and powerful
influence on a popular audience ?

(i.) Simplicity, perhaps, ought to have the first place ;
for this is but another name, in most cases, for clearness and
perspicuity ; and without the latter, as formerly noticed, suc-
cess is impossible. Whatever else may be requisite in
spoken or written productions which are adapted to the
popular mind, simplicity must not be wanting. This has
been well noted by Hume in his essay on Simplicity and
Refinement in Writing, He says : * A greater degree of
simplicity is required in all compositions where men and
actions and passions are painted, than in such as consist of
reflections and observations. And as the former species of
writing is the more engaging and beautiful, one may safely,
upon this account, give the preference to the extreme of
simplicity above that of refinement* Yet, of this last he
justly states, that it is * the extreme which men are most apt
to fall into, after learning has made some progress, and after
writers have appeared in every species of composition. The
endeavour to please by novelty leads men wide of simplicity
and nature, and fills their writings with affectation and con-
ceit* I need not say, that everything which savours of
this is peculiarly unsuited to a preacher of the gospel. If
generally * the language which is dedicated to truth should
be plain and unaffected,* ^ most especially should it be so
when applied in connection with that kind of truth which
it is the business of the preacher to set forth, — truth which
lies so near to the glory of God and the highest interests of
mankind. But there are other reasons for it In the great
majority of cases any other kind must be unsuited to the
audience addressed, as well as to the nature of the theme.

^ Quse veritati operam dat oratio, incomposita sit et simplex. —
Seneca^ Pp. 40,

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. l8l

Christian congregations, with comparatively few exceptions,
are not only mixed assemblages, but assemblages containing
a preponderance of but moderately educated or even un-
lettered persons, very few of whom, therefore, can be quali--
fied intelhgently to follow, far less to relish, a discourse
which deals in unusual terms and artificial sentences — the
ordinary marks of polish and refinement. And if some of
the greater masters of English composition have of set
purpose endeavoured to avoid such things ; have even, to
be sure of their ground in this respect, at times tried the
eflfect of their productions on men of common understand-
ing, before committing them to the press, how anxious
should the ministers of the gospel be to use great plainness
of speech, that the simple in heart may understand, and
nothing which it is important for sinners to know may lie
hidden fi*om their view under the folds Of a learned
phraseology.

Augustine, in the last book of his treatise, De Dodrina
Christiana^ presses very strongly this view of the matter,
and commends this quality of plainness or simplicity of
speech to all ministers of the word, as deserving of their
greatest attention :^ *He, therefore, who teaches will shim all
words that do not teach ; and if in place of them he can
employ others which are pure, and which are better under-
stood, he will rather choose these ; but if he cannot do so,
either because there are none such, or because he cannot
for the moment get hold of them, he will then resort to
others which are less piure, provided only they serve to make
the thing itself distinctly understood.' And returning to the
subject again, he asks, * What signifies a golden key, if we
cannot open with it what we wish ? But if a wooden one
will serve the purpose, what matters its inferior quality ?'
And referring to Cicero's threefold distinction, docere necessi-
tatis est, delectare suavitatis, flectere victorice, he urges on

' L. iv. 26.

1 82 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

preachers of the gospel that, while they should not, indeed,
neglect the two latter, while they should endeavour so to
speak as to please and to persuade, they should yet regard
the teaching element as the prime and essential one, and
for that end should make choice of such words as are fitted
to convey clear notions of the truth.

This is, undoubtedly, what should be aimed at ; but even
when honestly aimed at, it is not always quite easily accom-
plished. A long course of academical training, whatever
advantages it brings in other resp^ects, is apt here to throw
a certain hindrance in the way. For it familiarizes those
who are subjected to it to a style of thought and speech
philosophical or literary rather than popular ; and modes of
representation, forms of expression even, which have become
perfectly natural to them, will be strange to the ears, and
but imperfectly grasped by the understandings of a common
audience. The progress of education, and the more general
diffusion of intelligence through the community, have, no
doubt, been tending to lessen the distance in this respect
between the more and the less learned classes, but it is very
far from having removed it. There may be littie danger in
the present day of introducing into the pulpit the kind of
academical style of discourse which was by no means
unusual with a certain class of ministers in the last century,
when, as Dr. Campbell tells us, preachers were often found
* haranguing the people on the moral sense and universal
benevolence, speaking of the s)nnmetry of the universe, and
the moral harmony and dissonance of the affections.* Such
a style of pulpit ministrations may now be regarded as gone
into deserved oblivion ; but there may still, and, unless
special care is taken to prevent it, there will remain a ten-
dency with those who have been trained to habits of study,
and are more conversant with books than with men, to fall
into methods of discussion and modes of speech which are
not level to the capacities of the people, at least do not

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 1 83

properly reach their bosoms. And if there is any consider-
able tincture of fancy in the preacher's constitution, or
prompting of literary ambition, there will be the additional
danger of his overshooting the mark by using similitudes too
remote from common life, and displaying a fondness for what
will only be regarded as playful sallies or pretty conceits.

This false tendency, more especially in the latter form of
it, is so admirably exposed by South in his sermon on Luke
xxi. 15, and the proper style for an earnest preacher to
employ is so strikingly set forth, that I cannot forbear quot-
ing the passage, although the tone of sarcasm so natural to
the author is not wanting in it, and in the present case is
venting itself against no less a victim than his celebrated
contemporary Jeremy Taylor : * / speak the words of sober-
ness^ said St Paul, and I preach the gospel not with enticing
words of man* s wisdom. This was the way,' says South, *of
the apostle's discoursing of things sacred. Nothing here
of " the fringes of the northern star ; " nothing of " nature's
becoming unnatural ;" nothing of the " down of angels'
wings," or " the beautiful locks of cherubims f no starched
similitudes introduced with a ** thus have I seen a cloud
rolling in its airy mansion," and the like. No, these were
sublimities above the rise of the apostolic spirit. For
the apostles, poor mortals, were content to take lower
steps, and to tell the world in plain terms that he who
believed should be saved, and that he who believed not
should be damned. And this was the dialect which pierced
the conscience, and made the hearers cry out, " Men and
brethren, what shall we do?" It tickled not the ear, but
sank into the heart; and when men came from such
sermons, they never commended the preacher for his taking
voice or gesture, for the fineness of such a simile, or the
quaintness of such a sentence ; but they spake like men
conquered by the overpowering force and evidence of the
most concerning truths; much in the words of the two

184 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

disciples going to Emmaus : Did not our hearts burn within
us while He opened to us the Scriptures f In a word, the
apostles* preaching was therefore mighty and successful,
because plain, natural, and famiHar, and by no means above
the capacity of their hearers ; nothing being more prepos-
terous than for those who were professedly aiming at men*s
hearts, to miss the mark by shooting over their heads.'

If somewhat peculiarly, this is not too forcibly put ; and
in order to avoid the errors pointed at, there is undoubtedly,
first of all, needed on the part of the preacher a sincere
spirit of self-denial, a determination to shun whatever might
look like a needless display of learning, or a laying of traps
for popular applause. Like a humble but earnest workman,
he must seek the instruments, the plain and intelligible
words, which seem best fitted to forward his Master's busi-
ness. In order to this he must, as was said in another con-
nection, by familiar intercourse with the people get well
acquainted with the manner of thought and speech which is
best adapted to their taste or capacities, especially must
accustom himself to the use of the more common, chiefly
Saxon, elements in our language, as contradistinguished
from those which are of Latin origin. And in so far as
recourse may be had to figures or similitudes to aid the im-
perfection of direct language, and give a more vivid repre-
sentation of the truth, let them not be of a recondite nature,
or far-fetched, but such as will really illustrate the subject,
and make it better understood by the common understand-
ing. Finer examples could scarcely be anywhere found of
what is here indicated than in the sermons of Augustus
Hare, the brother. of the Archdeacon. They are the pro-
ductions of a man of high intellect, fine taste, and varied
accomplishments, yet subordinated all to the blessed work
of endeavouring to bring down the great truths and obliga-
tions of the gospel to the level of a plain, rural congregation ;
a work which, when perfectly done, and with respect to

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 185

things which are not trite, but of grave importance or diffi-
culty, is, as Whately has remarked, ' one of the most admir-
able feats of genius.'^ I refer, in illustration, to his sermon
on the superiority of principles to rules ; and hence the far
greater importance of having the mind indoctrinated ^th
the one, than the conduct drilled into conformity with the
other ;^ a subject certainly far from being trite, or even such
as can quite easily be made patent to a common audience ;
yet see how distinct it becomes through Mr. Hare's lucid
exposition and homely speaking ! * A rule which has been
drawn up for any particular purpose, may be likened to a
loaf of bread ; a principle, on the other hand, is like a hand-
ful of wheat Every rule that is worth anything must be
taken from a principle, just as a loaf of bread is made of
wheat. For the wants and uses of the moment a rule is
more serviceable than a principle, just as, when a man is
hungry, bread is more welcome than wheat For bread is
wheat ready prepared for the sake of satisfying hunger.
We have only to take it and eat it Hence, for a hungry
man a crust of bread is better and, handier than so much
unground wheat Yet will anybody say on this account
that bread is a better thing than wheat ? Suppose a man
were going to some far country where no com grows, which
would he take with him, bread or wheat ?' He illustrates
this a little, and then proceeds : * This is the great advantage
which wheat has over bread. Bread may feed us for the
moment ; but when once eaten it is gone for ever. Wheat,
on the contrary, will bear seed ; it will increase and mul-
tiply ; after one crop has had its day, and been reaped, and
stored in the bam, and consumed, another crop, provided
seed be preserved, will spring up ; and so long as the earth
itself lasts, so long will com last also. Thus, too, is it with
rules and principles. A rale is like a loaf of bread ; it is a
ready handy application of a principle, a principle made
1 RheUfric^ p. 256. • On CoL ii. 28.

1 86 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

up for immediate use. By rules we govern and rule our
children. We say to them, " Do this," or " Don't do that,"
because it is easy for them to understand a plain order ; but
it is not always easy to make them understand the principle
or reason of it When the child, however, comes to be a
man, he puts away childish things. He wants a new set of
rules adapted to his new state, for the rules of childhood he
has outgrown, so that they no longer fit him. The rules
which belong to one stage of life are many of them ill-suited
to other stages of life.' And so with different classes of
men, and different nations of the world. ' Therefore God,
when He was graciously pleased to give us a law, which was
to serve not for one country and one people, but for the
whole world, did not give us an endless string of rules to
be followed according to the letter in each particular case ;
but gave us the principles which are the ground and sources
of all rules, and from which the rules are to be drawn,' etc.
He applies it to circumcision and other Jewish ordinances,
which in form are dropt, in principle retained. * Christ
skimmed off the cream, as it were, of the law of Moses;*
* in the room of burdensome rites and formal rules He gave
us the law of faith and love, and thereby made His doctrine
a doctrine of principles, living, active, pure, universal and
eternal.' ^

It is quite true that a style like this, so remarkable for its
simplicity both in the choice of words and the structure of
sentences, is adapted for instruction rather than impression.
True also, that it has been seldom attained in anything like
the same perfection by excellent preachers of the gospel;
and some even of those who reached the highest distinction
have rather been noted for the elaboration than for the
plainness and simplicity of their style. Such, certainly, are
the printed sermons of Dr. Chalmers ; they bear throughout

* Compare another fine specimen of Hare's method, in Ser. on John
vil 17 — greatly superior to Archer Butler's on the same text.

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 1 87

the marks of elaborate preparation, in respect not merely to
the thought embodied in them, but also to the structure of
the sentences and the mode of expression, which were in a
great measure peculiar to the man himself ; nor was there
ever probably an orator who, with no sinister object in view,
with the simple desire of communicating his thoughts dis-
tinctly and forcibly to the minds of others, has formed for
himself a diction so broadly marked by the impress of his
own individuality. Yet, with all that is peculiar in his
language and remote from the speech of common life, there
is in it also a singular breadth and power, a living freshness
and palpability, which, however unintelligible in particular
phrases to unlettered hearers, could not fail to arrest their
attention and find its way to their understandings and hearts.
It was still, however, far from being a model style for the
pulpit, especially in its relation to the general mass of con-
gregations ; and now that it is unaccompanied by the
striking aspect and attractive presence of the man, it rests
as a heavy drawback pn the remains of his pulpit ministra-
tions ; it is the element which more than anything besides
has impaired their permanent value, and rendered them
comparatively strange in the homes of our Christian people.
Indeed, Chalmers may here be appealed to as an autho-
rity against himself In a review of the sermons of Dr.
Charters of Wilton, he dwells upon the appropriateness
of a direct and homely style for the pulpit, in so far as
regards the audiences which have most commonly to be
addressed from it. * In the language of Paul,* says he, * it
is right that we should be all things to all men, that we may
gain some ; and if a simple prosel)rte can be gained to the
cause of righteousness by the embellishments of elegant
literature, let every attraction be given to the subject which
taste and elegance can throw round it. But let it be re-
membered that these attractions have no influence over the^
vast majority of the species, and that the only impression

1 88 THE OFFICE AKD DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

of which they are susceptible is that wholesome and direct
impression which a clear and simple exposition of duty
makes upon the audience. Let it further be remembered,
that even among the cultivated orders of society, the appetite
for mere gracefulness of expression is sure, in time, to give
way to the more substantial accomplishment of good sense
and judicious observation; and that in every rightly-con-
stituted mind the importance of what is true must carry it
over what is pretty, and elegant, and fashionable.'

The case of Robert Hall admits of a similar explanation.
In his grander efforts he was a preacher for a select class
rather than for the body of the people. His more famous
sermons (at least as printed), though perfectly clear and
perspicuous for cultivated readers, could only have been im-
perfectly understood and appreciated by common audiences,
and are, indeed, in point of composition, among the most
classical productions in the English language. They are not,
however, exactly specimens of his ordinary and especially of
his more effective preaching. Speaking of this in his sketch
of HalFs character as a preacher, Foster says, * His language
in preaching, as in. conversation, was in one considerable
point better than in his well-known and elaborately-com-
posed sermons, in being more natural and flexible. When
he set in reluctantly upon that operose employment, his
style was apt to assume a certain processional stateliness of
march, a rhetorical rounding of periods, a too frequent
inversion of the natural order of the sentence, with a morbid
dread of degr^-ding it to end in a particle, or rather small-
looking word ; a structure in which I doubt whether the
augmented appearance of strength and dignity be a com-
pensation for the sacrifice of a natural, living, and variable
freedom of composition.' He adds : * a remarkable differ-
ence will be perceived between the highly-wrought sermons
long since published, and the short ones now printed, which
were prepared without a thought of the press ; a difference

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 1 89

to the advantage of the latter in the grace of simplicity.'
Hall himself was perfectly aware of this diflference, and
notes it very strikingly in a letter to Mr. Philips (i6th April
1812), as connected with his greater success in the proper
end of preaching : * Blessed be the Lord, my strain of
preaching is considerably altered ; much less elegant, but
more intended for conviction, for awakening the conscience,
and carrying divine truth with power into the heart I * It is
worthy of notice, too, that even in the earlier period of his
ministerial life, his judgment pronounced in favour of a style
for the pulpit different from his own at the time in his
review, for example, of Foster's Essays, also of Gisbome*s
Sermons. He admired the simple force and expressiveness
of the Saxon element in our language, as far superior to the
Latin for emphasis and impression, and sometimes ex-
pressed in a very marked manner his dissatisfaction with
the employment of the one class of words when the others
might, as he thought, have been with advantage preferred.
Thus, in a conversation with Dr. O. Gregory, having
observed that the latter had more than once spoken of
felicity y Mr. Hall sharply inquired, * Why do you ^2.^ felicity ^
sir ? Happiness is a better word, more musical, and better
English, coming from the Saxon.' Hall, therefore, as well
as Foster and Chalmers, may be cited as a witness to this
style, as what may be termed the normal or usually appro-
priate one for the pulpit ; and if the bent of native genius,
or a regard to the peculiar circumstances of their own
position, rendered their example somewhat at variance with
their precept, this should rather tend to enhance the value
of their deliberate judgment

On the whole, it is of importance to bear in mind that,
amid all the diversities in this respect which are inevitable
and even proper, the press and the pulpit have their dis-
tinctive requirements ; and that what may be comparatively
perfect as regards the one, may be obviously defective or

190 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

misplaced as regards the other. In particular, the pulpit
demands plainness and simplicity beyond the written page,
while the latter is greatly less tolerant of careless and
slovenly forms of expression.

* There are preachers who, being deficient in the intel-
lectual and moral attributes which are essential to those
higher forms of popular eloquence which fascinate and
impress all classes of the community, are resolved to grasp
by illegitimate means at the same visible success. Unen-
riched with that bearing and intellectual vigour which
enable a man to become the master of difficult and unfa-
miliar provinces of truth ; unendowed with the rare genius
which can create a heaven and earth of its own, and lift
the thoughts of common men into a world whose paths they
have never travelled, and whose atmosphere they have never
breathed before; destitute of fancy, destitute of imagination,
impatient of the labour and painstaking by which alone the
power can be acquired of clothing our conceptions in the
nervous and beautiful language which the great writers and
orators of our country have been accustomed to employ,
they utter paradoxes as though they were wonderful revela-
tions of hitherto unknown truth ; they distort and disguise
thoughts which have been familiar to all mankind for cen-
turies, and try to pass them off as brilliant originalities ;
they mistake spasmodic vehemence for strengtli, gaudy
decoration for beauty, words of uncouth shape and sound,
sentences of grotesque and unnatural structiure, for freshness
and force of style. Foolish men wonder, wise men are dis-
gusted ; but neither the foolish nor the wise will love God
better, resist sin more resolutely, understand the Bible more
profoundly, serve Christ more zealously, if they listen to
preaching of this kind for half a century' (Dale's Discourses^

P- 333).

(2.) Another characteristic that should more or less dis-
tinguish the style of pulpit discourses is strength or energy.

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 191

It is, indeed, a quality which every preacher may be said
almost necessarily to aim at, if he has success in his work
really at heart ; for in seeking that he seeks to persuade ;
and this again imphes the forthputting of such a power in
the things spoken as may serve to beget the expectation of
prevailing over the indiflference or opposition of those who
are addressed. The capacity, of course, to eflfect this will
always depend to a large extent on the relative vigour of
the preacher's mind, or what it is as to concentration of
thought and depth of feeling; and where these qualities
are greatly deficient, it is not possible by mere outward
expression to compensate for the want A striving after
what may be called an artificial energy, energy of style or
action out of proportion to the elements of strength existing
within, is sure to manifest itself in something forced, extra-
vagant, or coarse ; and consequently must tend rather to
defeat than further the object of the speaker. It is in this
respect with mental action as with bodily ; the swoop of the
arm must be in proportion to the vital force that moves it ;
and, in like manner, the energy that a preacher can throw
into his diction will be determined by the fire which glows
within.

This is not, however, to be understood as disparaging the
necessity for proper care and appUcation ; for here, as in
other things, even where the native talent exists, it may
miss its aim by misdirected efforts, while, by being rightly
improved and guided, it may gain immensely both in force
and precision. No cultivation can enable a feeble or com-
monplace mind to clothe its thoughts in a nervous and
stirring diction ; but where some degree of mental vigour
exists, it may serve to give additional point to its ex-
pression, and recall the speaker from trying to reach his
aim by a less, to a more effective mode of gaining it. A
few leading points is all we can at present indicate on
the subject.

192 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

As regards the choice of words, there can be no doubt
that much depends on the skill to select the more specific
and individualizing, instead of the more general and abstract
terms. For it is the invariable tendency of a vivid realiza-
tion or powerful emotion, to give a concrete form to its
objects ; to clothe them, as it were, with flesh and blood, and
consequently to deal in the language of impersonation and
metaphor. * The more general the terms are,' as Dr. Camp-
bell remarks, ' the picture is the fainter ; the more special
they are, the brighter. The same sentiment may be ex-
pressed with equal justness, and even equal perspicuity, in
the former way as in the latter ; but as the colouring will in
that case be more languid, it cannot give equal pleasure to
the fancy, and by consequence will not contribute so much
either to fix the attention or to impress the memory.' A
better example could scarcely be given of this than one
selected by Dr. Campbell firom the Sermon on the Mount,
comparing the specific form which it assumed in our Lord's
hand, with what it would become if the specific were
changed into the general. ' Consider the lilies, how they
grow ; they toil not, they spin not ; and yet I say unto you,
that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of
these. If, then, God so clothe the grass, which to-day is in
the field and to-morrow is cast into the oven, how much
more will He clothe you ? ' * Let us here,' says Campbell,
* adopt a little of the tasteless manner of modem paraphrasts,
by the substitution of more general terms, one of their many
expedients of infiigidating, and let us observe the effect
produced by this change. " Consider the flowers, how they
gradually increase in their size; they do no manner of
work, and yet I declare to you that no king whatever, in his
most splendid habit, is dressed up like them. If, then, God
in His providence doth so adorn the vegetable productions,
which continue but a little time on the land, and are after-
wards put into the fire, how much more will He provide

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 1 93

clothing for you?" How spiritiess,' Dr. C. justly adds,

* is the same sentiment rendered by these small variations !
The very particularizing of to-day and to-morrow is infinitely
more expressive of transitoriness than any description wherein
the terms are general, that can be substituted in its room.'

The, Scriptures are full of passages to which the same
mode of criticism might be applied, passages which derive
much of their graphic and touching power from the use
made in them of what is specific and individual, ami which
would in a great measure be lost by a more indefinite form
of expression. Thus St. Paul's commission as an apostle to

* turn m«i fi:om darkness to light, and firom the power of
Satan unto God,' is much more vivid and expressive than if
we had been told of his being sent to instruct the ignorant,
and bring them from the love and practice of sin to the
ways of righteousness ! ^ A telhng effect is often produced
by turning, when it can be done without violence to the
idiom of the language, a noun into a verb, expressing an
action by what properly indicates a personality ; as when,
with reference to the bloody spectacles of the Roman
amphitheatres, the poet speaks through one of his cha-
racters of the unhappy creatures who were ^^utchered to
make a Roman holiday;' or when St Paul speaks of
^crucifying the flesh with its affections and lusts j' or we
may say of the world, when unduly cared for, that it dwarfs
the life of religion in the soul. But it is quite possible in
such things to go to excess, and in the search for greater
strength so to overdo it as to beget a sense of the strained
or the ludicrous. The boundary line here between the

^ Yet the individualizing may fail, if it goes to things too low or
minute for the occasion^ as in Parr's Spittai Sermon t * Within a few
days mute was the tongue that uttered these celestial words, and the
hand which signed your indenture lay cold and motionless in the
dark and dreamy chambers of death..' In such an effort at the solemn
and pathetic it looks too small to speak of signing an indenture for
boys.

N

194 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

true and the false, the allowable and the forbidden, is often
a delicate one, and writers that may justly be pronounced
classical in other respects will sometimes miss it. As for
example, Archdeacon Hare, who usually exhibits a fine
taste in the use of language, but whose mind was more
remarkable for acuteness, sensibility, and polish than for
strength, when, in his discourses on the Mission of the Com-
forter^ he speaks of the ;soul which has yielded itself to
earthly influences as * having its feelings tarred and feathered
with the dust and dirt of the earth,* and of Christ's right-
eousness as being perfectly pure, * not covered with scratches
and rents like a sheet of old blotting paper.' The images
involved in such expressions are evidently too low for the
subje^fcts discoursed of, and the language rather jars on one's
sense of propriety than adds to the vividness of one's
perceptions. It is therefore to be remembered that all
individualizing in descriptions does not confer strength, nor
all energizings in the choice of words. The nature of the
subject, the idioms of language, the very place and occasion,
must each be taken into account Especially must it be so
in pulpit discourses, in which a becoming sense of solemnity
should be apparent; and modes of speech, which might
without impropriety be employed elsewhere, would then
readily be felt to be out of place. Thus there is room for
the exercise of taste, discretion, and sanctified feeling.

The same substantially may be said in regard to the
other means requiring to be attended to, in order to the
attainment of a nervous diction, such, for example, as the
number and arrangement of words in sentences. It is a
matter on which preachers should bestow some pains, yet
without being finical or elaborate. Any one at all conver-
sant with what constitutes power of expression, knows that
a needless multiplication of words always enfeebles the
sense, as does also a looseness of structure between one
part of a sentence and another ; and that the more tersely

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 1 95

*

and pointedly a sentiment can be expressed, the more
forcible will it be. Sometimes the effect will be found to
depend as much upon the relative adjustment of the words,
so as to give the prominent place to those on which the
main stress should be laid, as on the kind and number of
the words themselves. I should express quite an appro-
priate and wholesome sentiment, if I should say, ' It may
now and then be our duty to others to suppress the truth,
but duty to ourselves always requires us not to utter a false-
hood.' Change the arrangement, however, and see how
much more emphatically it becomes as given by Hare:' 'To
suppress the truth may now and then be our duty to others;
not to utter a falsehood must always be our duty to our-
selves.' Whately gives the following from Burke as a good
example of the same description :^ * Kings will be tyrants
from policy, when subjects are rebels from principle.' And
we may add this from Archer Butler :* * There is no bond
but his own love (namely, in the promises of God), yet that
bond is stronger than iron ; and He, whom the universe
cannot compel, commands Himself.' In such sentences
everything appears in the place it should occupy, to bring
out distinctly the idea meant to be expressed.

But here also there is a measure to be observed in any
kind of public discourse, but especially in preaching. For
if brevity and arrangement were constantly pursued, it would
make too great a strain on people's attention ; they would
come to feel like persons breathing in too dense an atmo-
sphere ; or, as Whately puts it,* Hke animal natures that are
confined to food too simply nutritious, requiring more bulk
and distension to render it altogether wholesome. Con-
structions formed with a view to emphasis, if too frequently
indulged in, defeat their own object ; what is always em-
phasized becomes monotonous, or loses effect by too palpable

^ Guesses at Truth, ii. p. 319. * Rhetoric, p. 209.

* i. p. 131. * P. 260.

196 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

a Straining after it. In such things, therefore, it is necessary
to time oneself; and, indeed, to be little concerned about
either special brevity or emphasis, except when particularly
anxious to make impression.

(3.) Another characteristic, the only other I shall par-
ticularly mention, of the style proper to the pulpit, is that
of a Scriptural tincture or impress. One can quite easily
suppose that a discourse might be nearly all it should be
for the pulpit as to simplicity, clearness, pith, and yet
sensibly want something which one naturally expects in the
discussion of a scriptural theme. There might be, whether
from policy or from a regard to the supposed demands of
taste, a studied avoidance of the more peculiar phraseology
of Scripture, an employment of terms or a structure of
sentences that bespoke no sympathy of tone or community
of speech with the sacred writers. Mr. Foster, in one of his
well-known essays, went so far as to recommend this as a
wise accommodation to persons of cultivated taste, that is,
to audiences composed chiefly of such, with the view princi-
pally of meeting the aversion such persons cherish to . the
subjects embraced in evangelical Christianity. In his judg-
ment, a nearer approach to the simply literary style would
have the advantage of presenting the ideas of the gospel,
without in any way offending, but rather gratifying, their
literary predilections. But it would be impossible to adopt
such a style of discourse without not only refraining from
the use of expressions which are the best out language
supplies for the ideas they are intended to convey, but also
losing that hallowed air which it is important to have thrown
around religious topics for refined as well as ordinary hearers
of the gospel. Mr. Hall therefore wisely took exception
to the view of Foster in his review of the first edition of the
Essays. In doing so he stated, that from the very nature of
Christianity, which contains an exhibition of doctrine and
requires the exercise of graces peculiar to itself, it necessarily

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE, 1 97

originated a phraseology of its own, for the purpose of con-
veying correct impressions of its great truths and principles;
and that this phraseology having been formed under the
immediate impulse and guidance of the Holy Spirit, it could
not be safely supplanted by another. While he could not
applaud the extent to which the use of Scripture language
was carried by some pious writers, he could still less throw
it so much into abeyance as it would be on the system
advocated by Foster. * To say nothing,' he remarks, * of
the inimitable beauties of the Bible, considered in a literary
point of view, which are universally acknowledged, it is the
book which every devout man is accustomed to consult as
the oracle of God; it is the companion of his best moments,
and the vehicle of his strongest consolations. Intimately
associated in his mind with everything dear and valuable,
its diction more powerfully excites devotional feelings than
any other; and when temperately and soberly used, it
imparts an unction to a religious discourse which nothing
else can supply.' He properly adds, that the avoidance of
Scripture phraseology in religious discourses might not
improbably lead to a neglect of the Scriptures themselves,
and the substitution of a flashy and superficial declamation
in the room of the saving truths of the gospel. Such an
apprehension, he also thought, was too much verified * by
the most celebrated sermons of the French, and still more
by some modem compositions in our own language, which
usurp that title.' And he therefore held that * for devotional
impression a very considerable tincture of the language of
Scripture, or at least such a colouring as shall discover an
intimate acquaintance with those inimitable models, will
generally succeed best'

Such, undoubtedly, is the right view of the matter; and
there is the more reason for adhering to it, as in the
Authorized Version, whatever partial errors and minor im-
perfections belong to it, there is so fine an example of

198 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

general fidelity to the spirit and meaning of the original,
embodied in a style which, for its object, may be said to
approach very nearly to perfection. It puts a vocabulary
and an idiom into our hand every way adapted to the
purpose of its great mission as the revelation of God's mind
and will to men, embalmed also in the pious recollections,
endeared by the earliest and most rooted associations of
those to whom we speak. We are not, however, to imagine,
that in order to preserve this Scriptural tincture it is enough
to crowd our discourses with quotations from the diflferent
books of Scripture. This may be done, often actually is
done, with no other effect than to beget an impression of
the preacher's want of independent thought, or such a sense
of satiety as arises from listening to a continuous stream of
commonplaces. Such, to a large extent, must be the effect
of a kind of preaching which is sometimes practised, running
out into a considerable variety of heads of discourse, and
under each introducing so many passages of Scripture, that
little space is left for more than a few connecting notes or
illustrations. Preaching of this description can never tell
with much quickening power, or produce lasting impres-
sions. It is never to be forgotten, as one of the unalterable
laws of mental agency, that if one is to beget thought and
feeling in the bosom of others, there must first be the con-
scious possession and exercise thereof in one's own. Here,
also, there must be a cause bearing some proportion to the
effect; and even passages of Scripture, if they are to be
employed as means of moral suasion, must first be identified
in tiie experience of the preacher with his own spiritual life,
and used, not to save thought and application, but because
they form the most appropriate vehicle of the ideas he has
conceived, the convictions, desires, and hopes which he
wishes those whom he addresses to share with himself.
When so used, it will usually be found that a comparatively
small number of direct quotations will be sufficient ; their

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 1 99

appropriateness rather than their multiplicity will be the more
noticeable thing about them; but the Scriptural impress will
pervade the discourse and appear in the general tone and cha-
racter it presents as well as in specific portions of its contents.
Very closely allied to this Scriptural tone of thought and
expression, though not absolutely identical with it, is the
quality in the higher style of ministrations called unction^ a
quality more easily felt than described. It is, undoubtedly,
when existing in any proper degree, not as an assumed
pietism, but as a real quality, a soft penetrating influence
mingling with the* tone and manner of the preacher, and
shedding a kind of sweet and heavenly savour over the
sentiments he utters. When existing thus, it must, indeed,
root itself deeply in the spiritual characteristics of the man,
and be in a peculiar manner the reflection of his own inner
life. It implies, prior to any manifestation of it in discourse,
a certain sensibility of soul, an emotional nature acting
under a sense of divine realities, and elevated by close com-
munion with God, and so naturally appearing when coming
forth to act upon others with a mingled solemnity and
tenderness of spirit, with a fireshness of holy life and yearn-
ing solicitude of love, which seems allied to heaven rather
than to earth, and is felt upon men's hearts as a sanctifying
and subduing power. It will belong to any one very much
in proportion as he has not simply acquired the language, but
drunk into the spirit of the Bible, and has become penetrated
with a sense of its all-important revelations. But it is not to
be identified with a soft or mawkish sentimentality; for it has
not rarely found its strongest development in men in whom
the intellectual or imaginative faculties have held as pro-
minent a place as the emotional, such as Howe, Edwards,
Brainerd, Leighton, Thomas k Kempis, Pascal. But with
whatever characteristics of mind more peculiarly combined,
never can there be either a proper foundation for the quality
or a healthful development of its power, except in connec-

200 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

tion with the intimate knowledge and habitual meditatiou of
the word of God.

Enough, perhaps, has been said on the subject of style
in pulpit discourses, as it is only the more essential points
that can be noticed here. Impression, if not always the
immediate, is assuredly the ultimate object to be aimed at,
and everything should be considered and done with a special
regard to this. The preacher should prepare for his work,
and go through his work with the feeling, that if the truths
he imfolds are not made to sink into the hearts of his
auditors, let the effect otherwise be what it may, he has
substantially laboured in vain. So that if he only can com-
bine with the clear enunciation of gospel truth such nervous
strength and spiritual unction as shall tend to win an atten-
tive regard to what he says, and make it live in the remem-
brance of those who hear, the great object is gained to which
his efforts should be directed. Such things, however, can-
not be expected to come of themselves. They must be
sought and striven for if they are to be found. The men
who deem themselves superior to this, or who grudge the
labour it exacts of them, must be content to remain deficient
in the better and more effective qualities of discourse. But
it does not follow that they should always work under
the felt trammels of the preceding directions, and carefully
elaborate every sentence in their discourses with a specific
view to the attainment of the different kinds of excellence
which have been mentioned. Composing or speaking well
undoubtedly goes before composing or speaking quickly, as
was justly said long ago by Quinctilian, ^ Bene scribendo
fit, ut cito scribatur, non dto scribendo ut bene;' but when
practice has enabled us to get some fireedom and skill in the
work, the most correct and powerful in form may also be
the portions which have actually passed with the greatest
promptitude from our hands. But this can only be if the
mind has been well seasoned and prepared by previous

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 20I

application for the eflfort. * Shakespeare/ says Carlyle,i * we
may fancy wrote with rapidity, but not till he had thought
with intensity. It was for him to write rapidly at fit inter-
vals, being ready for it. And herein truly lies the secret of
the matter ; such swiftness of mere writing after due energy
of preparation is doubtless the right method ; the hot
furnace having long worked and simmered, let the pure gold
flow out at one gush.' Yes, but comparatively few can
either write or speak under the glow of such a well-formed
and regulating impulse, and for the most part there will need
to be a certain degree of conscious eflfort or toil in the actual
bodying forth of one's thoughts, as well as in the earlier
attempts made toward a distinct conception and disposition
of them. But on this particular point something more will
be said in another connection.

VII. Elocution, or the delivery of discourses. — ^This is the
last point of a general kind, common alike to all discourses,
to which it is necessary to direct attention. And in some
respects it is the most difficult of all ; the most difficult to
be discussed to any good purpose, and not unfrequently
also the most difficult for the preacher to study, so as to
reach in it some degree of perfection. The difficulty in
both cases chiefly arises from the almost infinite diversity of
the qualities to which an eflfective delivery may be ascribed,
or which, at least, are capable of entering into it : the same
qualities to which we feel disposed to ascribe it in some
being precisely those in which others are markedly deficient,
who yet attain to the power of an impressive or pleasing
delivery. Fine expressive features, a majestic or heavenly
aspect, such as partly from nature partly from grace belongs
to some men, whose very appearance is a kind of sermon,
an appropriate or gracefiil action, a voice of much compass
and energy, capable of expressing by turns the most tender

» Review of Sir W, Scotfs Works,

202 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

and melting, and the most lively or powerful tones ; these
are what may be called the leading elements of a constitu-
tional kind in a good delivery ; and when they meet in any
individual, they seem quite adequate to account for his
success, so far as that can be associated with exterior quali-
fications. They do, undoubtedly, constitute great natural
advantages, for which those who possess them may well be
thankful ; for such a natural dowry is to the public speaker
like what being bom to a considerable fortune is for the
man of business. Yet how many of those who have risen
as speakers to the highest eminence, whether in the civil or
the sacred arena, have been more remarkable for the want
than for- the possession of some of those qualities ! . Demos-
thenes, whose name has come down to us as the most con-
summate orator of antiquity, with respect to the delivery as
well as to the composition of his speeches, of whom, when
observing the burst of admiration which came from a com-
pany of persons who simply heard his oration for the Crown
read, his rival -^schines is reported to have said, *What
would you have felt if you had heard him speak it ? ' — this
same Demosthenes is known to have had a rather feeble
constitution, and was so defective naturally in the organ of
speech, that the nickname pdraXos (stammerer) was applied
to him in his youth. It is worthy of notice, too, that the
modem British orator, who is commonly regarded as ap-
proaching nearest to Demosthenes in some of the higher
qualities of excellence, had very marked natural deficiencies
of a somewhat similar kind. 'In most of the extemal
qualities of oratory,' says Lord Brougham of Mr. Fox, ' he
was certainly deficient, being of an unwieldy person, without
any grace of action, with a voice of little compass, and which,
when pressed in the vehemence of his speech, became shrill
almost to a cry or a squeak ; yet all this was absolutely for-
gotten in the moment when the torrent began to pom*.'
Pitt, it is well known, had most of the qualities in this

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 203

respect which Fox wanted; he had, at least, a dignified
bearing and manner, such as commanded the deference
and regard of othei^, though it sometimes wounded their
pride ; and his voice is said to have been in a high degree
sonorous, and capable of giving full effect to all the varieties
of style in which he excelled ; clearness of statement, close
argumentation, cutting sarcasm, and vehement invective.
And another person, a contemporary of these great rivals,
himself also a man of rare excellence in some departments
of oratory, stood much superior even to Pitt in the exterior
qualities of an orator ; he had them in a sort of ideal per-
fection. I refer to Erskine, who was possessed of such a
noble figttre as struck every one with admiration : an ex-
pressive countenance, a brilliant and piercing eye, a most
graceful and appropriate manner; altogether such, that
juries felt it impossible to withdraw their looks from him
when once he had secured their attention ; and the whole
coupled with a voice peculiariy sweet, clear, flexible, adapted
alike to earnest pleading, playful humour, and strains of
melting pathos. What an accumulation of advantages !
Yet great as they were, and great also as was his success
in public speaking, neither he nor Pitt come up to that
kind of action which was exemplified in Fox, and which,
with all his disadvantages of form and gesture and voice,
sufficed to render him the most effective speaker of his time
in Parliament.

In turning firom the senate to the pujpit we meet with
precisely similar anomalies. The qualities which seem to
have commanded for some great distinction, scarcely, if
at all, appear in others, who yet have been able to throw
into their manner the most powerfiil attraction. By all
accounts, Whitfield, who perhaps more nearly realized than
any other in this country the true ideal of a preacher of the
gospel, had most of the natural elements that contribute
to a good delivery : a prepossessing appearance, a quick.

204 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

glancing eye, an elastic and powerful voice, and an action
full of grace and propriety. The young Spencer of Liver-
pool, who for the short period of his career made a singular
impression, and to whose wonderful power as a preacher
Hall has given in one of his notes a very emphatic testi-
mony, appears to have been equally favoured by nature ;
as he is represented to have been of a most engaging
countenance and form ; to have had a fine eye and voice, a
natural and impressive elocution, which, combined with
much devotional fervour and simple earnestness of spirit,
threw a quite unusual charm over his preaching ; the more
remarkable as his sermons, when published after his decease,
proved to be rather tame compositions. But when we turn to
others, even to some of the most eminent of recent preachers,
we find a very scanty distribution of these exterior qualities.
Hall had, no doubt, an expressive countenance and a com-
manding appearance, but he had a weak voice, and next
to no action in the pulpit Contrasting himself with Robin-
son of Cambridge, whom he succeeded, and at first unfor-
tunately fell into imitating, he said, * Mr. Robinson had a
musical voice, and was master of all its intonations ; he had
wonderful self-possession, and could say what he pleased,
when he pleased, and how he pleased ; while my voice and
manner were naturally bad ; and far fi*om having self-com-
mand, I never entered the pulpit without omitting to say
something that I wi^ed to say, and saying something that
I wished unsaid,' Yet, while the natural qualities which
tend to secure a pleasing and effective delivery were so
imperfectly possessed by Hall, as compared with his pre-
decessor, there can be no doubt that the delivery which
was actually the most perfect, the one which most com-
pletely riveted the attention of the hearers, and served to
impress the sentiments of the speaker most deeply upon
their minds, belonged to Hall in a far higher degree than it
ever did to Robinson.

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 205

In like manner, Chalmers, whose manner for earnestness
and force was probably never surpassed in the pulpit, owed
wondrously little to the merely external gifts of nature. He
had a voice firm indeed, and moderately strong, but utterly
devoid of music, flexibility, or softness, singularly hard and
uniform in its intonations ; an eye that expressed nothing
but the utter absorption of the speaker in his own theme ;
and a manner without grace or polish, rarely serving more
than to embody the one idea of tremendous energy and
vital force. Yet the effect, not merely with the general
public, but with the most severe and keen-eyed critics, was
of the most impressive kind. One of the latter class, John
Lockhart,^ after pointing to what was defective, and men-
tioning that *his voice was neither strong nor melodious,
his gestures neither easy nor graceful, his pronunciation not
only broadly national, but broadly provincial, distorting
almost every word he uttered into some barbarous novelty,'
proceeds to say : * But, in truth, these are things which no
listener can attend to while this great preacher stands
before him armed with all the weapons of the most com-
manding eloquence, and swaying all around him with its
imperial rule. ... I have heard many men,' he adds, 'deliver
sermons far better arranged in regard to argument, and have
heard very many deliver sermons far more uniform in
elegance both of conception and style ; but most unques-
tionably I have never heard, either in England or Scotland,
or in any other country, any preacher whose eloquenge is
capable of producing an effect so strong and irresistible as
his.'

Were we to multiply examples, it would only be to pro-
duce fresh diversities in respect to the degrees in which
things naturally conducive to a good delivery have been
found in preachers of eminence ; and even that which might
seem the most indispensable of all qualities for the purpose

^ In Peter's- Letters,

206 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

of impression, the power of a sustained pitch of voice, has
sometimes failed so much in preachers of great excellence
and power, that their most impassioned and solemn passages
have had to be delivered in a kind of undertone, little more
than an audible breathing. The conclusion, I think, to be
drawn from the existence of such diversities is, that an
effective delivery depends upon a considerable variety of
things ; upon qualities partly corporal, partly mental ; and
that though all or nearly all of them may be united in a
single individual, yet in reality they very seldom are so ;
nor is it at all necessary that they should be so united in
order to the attainment of the highest success as to power
and impressiveness of action. It would even seem, from
the facts connected with the subject, that there is here also
a law of compensation which very commonly comes into
play ; and that it is rarely indeed those who are most ftdly
endowed with the exterior gifts of nature, but those rather
who have some marked defects in this respect to encounter
and overcome, for whom the highest place is reserved : the
very effort in overcoming the difficulty, or triumphing in the*
face of an obvious disqualification, being thereby made to
turn to the account of the speaker, and imparting to his
utterances a charm they could not otherwise have possessed.
All this must, of course, be understood with certain limi-
tations. A measure even of the more superficial endow-
ments of nature must be held indispensable to even a
moderate degree of success. There are voices not only
naturally defective, but so inherently bad, so grating, so
harsh, or so impotent, that it is not conceivable they could
by any application of art or labour be rendered subservient
to a good delivery. There are also constitutional tempera-
ments so nervously shy or timid, and features so uncouth in
their appearance or grotesque in their movements, that
they present difficulties too great to be surmounted by any
ordinary amount of industry, although, it may be admitted,

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 207

such cases are not of very frequent occurrence. They form
but a fragmentary portion of the number who pass through
the preparatory education and training which in every
well-regulated church precede admission into the rank of
preachers of the gospel So that one can hardly say it is
from absolute deficiency in the simply natural and physical
qualities, if more than a very small proportion of them
should fail in the attributes essential to a becoming manner
for the pulpit. Yet comparative failures, there can be no
doubt, are far firom being uncommon. In numberless in-
stances the remark is extorted from Christian congregations,
that the discourse they had listened to was Scriptural, well-
digested, in substance excellent, and only wanted to be
otherwise delivered; but the defect there spoiled all. I
have known not a few men of superior talents and learn-
ing, apparently of a right spirit, and perfectly capable of
thinking out their ideas clearly and giving them adequate
expression, lost in a great measiu*e from mere defects of
manner. They seemed to have almost everything necessary
to make them able ministers of the New Testament, but the
somewhat superficial accomplishment of a proper address.
This defect will, no doubt, be found in a number of cases
to have its root in the mental constitution of the individual —
in an imperfect possession of the qualities which form points
of sympathy and contact with the popular mind ; so that
while there may be a considerable dowry of natural and
acquired gifts, these somehow, in their mode of application,
acquire a set^ which wants adaptation to the popular mind,
and one which it may become extremely difficult, if not im-
possible, to rectify. Indeed, the cases generally of a de-
fective or vicious delivery are of a kind that, when once
acquired, are not likely to be much improved by such
directions and precepts as can be delivered in a class-room
or set forth on the printed page. They are so various in
themselves, and stand connected with such diversified ten-

2o8 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

dencies or imperfections, that, to be dealt with eflfectually,
they would require to be dealt with individually. Somewhat
possibly may be done in the way of prevention, or in guid-
ing beforehand into the right track ; and it is mainly with
that view that I am going to offer a few suggestions on the
subject.

Before doing so, however, I wouki have it to be distinctly
understood, that the things to be noticed should not be
deemed as in themselves of more than secondary rank.
The primary and more essential attributes belong to the
state and temper of the soul. They consist in its enlight-
ened views of divine truth, its firm grasp of the principles
of a living piety, and its earnest desire to promote the great
ends of the Christian ministry. Nothing can possibly com-
pensate for the want of these, as the possession of them is
the great spur to excellence. The very spring and heart of
all effective preaching may be said to stand in this, feeling
with all the soul, and then speaking with all the souL

I. With this precaution as to the relative importance of
things, and omitting all that is of a subordinate and merely
circumstantial kind/ I notice, in the first place, that great care
should be taken to acquire a distinct and proper enunciation.
If there is any obvious defect here, every effort should be
made by a resolute and continued application to get rid of
it For, whatever may be the peculiar style of the preacher,
whether it may naturally assume a calm and dignified or
a lively and impas^oned form, it will always be a great
advantage to possess, and a corresponding disadvantage to
want, a clear and articulate enunciation. Should the words
be uttered in too rapid or mumbling a fashion to be dis-
tinctly caught by the audience, should there be any broad or

^ There are things of this sort, however, which are well deserving
the attention of preachers, such as their mode of entering the pulpit,
their bearing in it, their treatment of the congregation : all should be
serious, without levity or undue familiarity.

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 209

obvious provincialism in the mode of expression, or should
the tone of voice have got anything of a monotonous or
sing-song manner, there is necessarily so far a grave impedi-
ment in the way of success ; and if not earnestly grappled
with and overcome, it will be almost sure to grow into a
confirmed habit.

But one of the main difficulties, when such a defect really
exists, lies in the unconsciousness of the individual : it is a
chance if he ever becomes duly sensible of it Every one
readily gets accustomed to his own manner of speech and
action ; and nothing is more common than for those who
have some marked peculiarities of utterance or gesture to
fall into a sort of unconsciousness about them. It is here
that the lessons of an elocution teacher may lend important
service, not so much by imparting any positive element of
success, as by awakening a full consciousness of the evil
that exists, showing it to its owner as it appears when trans-
ferred to the person of another. In this way a too quick
utterauce, a bad intonation, a misplacing or neglect of
emphasis, a tendency to strike upon some disagreeable key,
or to use certain kinds of provincial mannerisms, may be
detected before they have settled down into permanent
habits, and brought under correction. Even with some
pains and help of this description before the work of preach-
ing has been actually commenced, it will rarely happen that
nothing more in the way of correction needs to be effected ;
and young preachers, if they are wise, will keep their ears
open to any hints or suggestions that may be tendered them
on the subject. It is a point of some delicacy how far
settled pastors should encourage animadversions upon their
manner in the pulpit, any more than upon the substance of
their discoiu*ses, though even tfiey should beware of drawing
too tight a cordon around themselves ; but preachers^ who
are only, as it were, feeling their way to the right manner of

speech and action, should be less scrupulous about being

o

210 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

spoken to. And, I repeat, if they are wise, they will for a
time keep their ears open. It requires a good deal of wis-
dom to do so ; wisdom grounded in deep humility of spirit,
godly simplicity of purpose, unfeigned desire to know the
real truth of the case in order to turn it to profitable ac-
count j for it is apt to come like a chilling blast upon one's
spirits, after having plied every effort to deliver the divine
message according to the best of one's ability, to be told of
some unhappy blemish or imperfection that considerably
interferes with the impression. Yet remember, if there be
such a hindrance to your proper success, it exists whether
you are told of it or not ; and in such a case ignorance is
emphatically not bliss; nay, 'open rebuke is better than
secret love.* It is much better to be made acquainted with
the evil, when it may still be remedied, though the dis-
covery may haply come as a stroke on the cheek, than that
it should be allowed without a struggle to root itself in your
being. Preachers should hold it for certain, that for the first
four or five years, at least, they are in the position of learners,
with not a few things about them that require to be im-
proved and rectified; and that they can attain to the relative
perfection of which they may be capable no otherwise than
by becoming alive to the evil as well as the good in their
characteristics, and striving with manly resolution to make
the best of it Perfection here, as in other things, comes
not so much frOm being originally destitute of faults, as from
knowing well what faults exist, and then aiming at their
rectification.^

2. A second point to be attended to, is to endeavour to
obtain naturalness in voice and manner. Nothing in this
respect can be quite good which is not natural, or which
attempts to put nature to an undue strain, doing some sort
of violence to it In all departments nature must be the

* See Miller's Clerical Manners, p. 99. There are also some good re-
marks on the subject in Beecher's Lectures on Preaching, Lect vi

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFIGE. 2X1

foundation of art, in a great degree also the measure of art ;
and not what, abstractedly considered, may be the best, but
what is best relatively to the powers and situation of each
individual, that is for him the point especially to be aimed
at Very commonly it is some time before this can be quite
surely ascertained. The man must be regarded as imusually
skilful and fortunate who gets all at once into the kind of
voice and manner which it is most becoming in him to
cultivate as a public speaker. In the majority of cases
there will probably be found an ideal excellence set up in
the mind's eye, derived more or less from the known cha-
racteristics of some particular individual And from that
imitative principle in our nature which has so many im-
portant functions to fulfil, we are extremely apt to fancy
that what seems natural to others must be the same with
ourselves. Hence it so oftea happens that artificial man-
nerisms, strained and unnatural modes of speech, which are
utterly unknown in youth, spring up in after life> and be-
come all the more inveterate that they are acquired. And
if in higher things the way to the right has many times to
be sought by returning whence one has set out ; if, as has
been said, * Childhood often holds a truth with its feeble
fingers which the grasp of manhood cannot retain,, which it
is the pride of utmost age to recover ' (Ruskin) ; so with
the earnest student, in regard to what is for him the proper
style of manner and speech, his chief endeavour will often
need to be directed to the getting rid of the false set he
has acquired, and resuming the simiple tones, the natural
cadences, and unforced gesticulations of childhood. Let
every one try to bear in mind, that so far as in these
respects he departs from the simplicity of nature, his man-
ner inevitably loses in power and attractiveness j while, by
taking nature for his basis, he may make almost incredible
advances.

On this point the question was asked by one who was

212 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

himself a distinguished and most useful preacher, i * When
will preachers learn that preaching is but talking in a louder,
tone, and with a little more emphasis of manner ? 'Why
aflfect a preaching or a praying tone, a manner of speaking
peculiar to the pulpit ? The conversational manner, occa-
sionally elevated, animated, and energetic as impassioned
passages and feelings may require, is what we want. There
are some men who are good talkers out of the pulpit, yet
bad speakers in it How much more acceptable would
they be, if they would carry their easy, natural manner of
conversation with them into the sacred desk !' Yet it is
possible to go to excess also in this direction ; and there is
truth. in what Adolph Monod says,* that *too great fami-
liarity is almost as great a fault as declamation. It is the
tone of good conversation, but this tone ennobled and ex-
alted, which seems to me to be the ideal of oratorical de-
livery.' Very much to the same effect is said by Whately :*
' It would not be by any means natural to an educated and
sober-minded man to speak like an illiterate enthusiast, or
to discourse on the most important matters in the tone of
familiar conversation respecting the trifling occurrences of
the day. Any one who does but notice the style in which
a man of ability, and of good choice of words and utterance,
delivers his sentiments in private, when he is, for instance,
earnestly and seriously admonishing a friend, defending the
truths of religion, or speaking on any other grave subject on
which he is intent, may easily observe how different his
tone is from that of light and familiar conversation, how far
from deficient in the dignified seriousness which befits the
case ! Even a stranger to the language might guess that he
was not engaged on any frivolous topic And yet, when an
opportunity occurs of observing how he delivers a written
discourse of his own composition, or perhaps the very same

' James, in Earnest Ministry y p. Ii8.

* Discourse on Delivery of Sermons, ' Rhetoric , p. 364.

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 213

on a similar subject, will it not often be perceived how com-
paratively stiff, languid, and unimpressive is the effect ?'

In short, there are two extremes here to be guarded
against. On the one side a stiff, formal mouthing, or mono-
tonous manner ; on the other, the quite free and easy, or
simply conversational tone. The latter is so far better than
the former, that it is natural, though wanting the proper
force and elevation of tone. And he who can hit the happy
medium between the two is the person who here lights upon
the proper track.

3. Another thing of great importance, and materially
conducive to the end just considered, is getting the mind
well prepared on the subject of discourse, at home in it,
and alive to it. Every one is sensible of the difference of
manner in the person who, whatever be the matter in hand,
shows himself to be well acquainted with the topics he dis-
cusses, and the same person, perhaps, when conversing
about what he neither very well knows nor cares much
about. In the former case there is sure to be a precision, a
freedom, and a warmth in what is said, of which little or no
trace is found in the other. There is no conceivable reason
why it should be otherwise in the pulpit The difference in
the two cases may rather be expected to be more marked
there, as the speaker is less at his ease, and he can less
readily conceal any deficiency in knowledge or interest
under which he may labour. If a preacher goes to the pulpit
with his ideas imperfectly arranged or dimly apprehended ;
or if, having all in that respect much as it should be, he
has still not got his heart about the subject, so that the
matter he has to bring forth may rather be said to lie before
him than to be incorporated with his inner man, it is in the
nature of things impossible that the mode of delivery can
be engaging or impressive. It may well enough be distinct,
correct, or possibly animated and vehement, but it can have
nothing of true kindling warmth and stimulating power.

214 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

Undue familiarity with the subject of a discourse may
produce substantially the same effect as comparative strange-
ness to it; everything by frequent repetition has lost its
freshness to the preacher^s mind, and become in a manner
stale. Indeed, whatever has the effect of keeping the
speaker himself at some distance from his theme, of render-
ing it either faint to his apprehension or dull to the feelings
of his heart, cannot but in a like proportion affect the man-
ner in which he discourses of it to others. And no one who
has any experience in preaching can have failed to perceive
how differently in point of naturalness, life, and energy he
has spoken what was perhaps to a nearness the same dis-
course at one time, compared with the tone and spirit which
characterized his delivery of it at another. It is necessary,
therefore, to remember that no general propriety of manner,
nor even this coupled with a clear and accurate knowledge
of the whole matter of discourse, will be sufficient to ensure,
regularly and unexceptionably, a mode of delivery that will
meet either the expectations of the hearers or the desires of
the preacher himself. Much will still depend upon his state
of mind at the time ; and only when, by previous meditation
and prayer, this has been brought into suitable accordance
with the message he has to deliver, will the words he speaks
pass from him with due emphasis and power. No art in
the mere modulation of speech, no straining or energy of
action, can ever make up for the want of a heartfelt appre-
ciation of the things discoursed of, or a rightly attempered
frame of mind.

4. A further point which calls for some consideration
and adjustment, is the adaptation of the mode of delivery to
the precise character of the discourse, or particular portions
of the discourse, delivered. Varieties in the one naturally
call for corresponding varieties in the other. If the dis-
course were altogether of an explanatory or expository
nature, it would not do to be spoken with the same tone

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 2X5

and tension of manner, which might be quite suitable and
appropriate if one were endeavouring to illustrate and en-
force a principle, or exhort to the performance of some
arduous duty. But a pulpit discoiu^e will, in general, only
in part belong to any specific kind ; in some portions it will
aim more immediately at the enlightenment of the under-
standing ; in others, at the excitation of the feelings, or the
guidance and direction of the will It should therefore
differ materially in its structure from an essay, which, calling
into play the intellect or taste merely, may preserve through-
out an almost unchanging equability of tone. The other
requires a certain measure of variety ; variety, first, in the
method and style of discourse, and then somewhat of a like
variety in the manner, which is associated with the delivery
of its several parts. If the whole should be gone through
in one strain, the attention of the audience will inevitably
flag j a sense of satiety or weariness will be produced, and
the preacher may not improbably come to be viewed much
in the light of a performer who has a certain taskwork of
duty to overtake, rather than of one who has to play skil-
fully on an instrument, so as, if possible, to touch the various
sensibilities, and work into proper harmony of thought and
feeling with himself the minds of those he addresses. There
should therefore be an effort to vary the manner according
to the nature of the discourse ; and to time oneself as to
strength and energy, by interposing quieter and calmer pas-
sages between those requiring somewhat of sustained and
vigorous action. Sometimes even brief pauses are advisable,
if the discourse is of such a nature as to demand continuous
thought and sustained application ; it being no small part of
practical wisdom to take one's breath at the right time, and
thereby give seasonable relief both to speaker and hearer.

5. The remarks hitherto made have had reference to
delivery in general, whether the discourse may be simply in
the pastor's mind or lying in a written page before him.

2l6 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

Nothing further has been implied than that the matter he is
going to address to his congregation has been made the
subject of previous thought and consideration, so as to
qualify him for speaking intelligently and feelingly about it ;
without which, directions as to manner will be of little mo-
ment. But it would be improper to quit this branch of the
subject without paying some attention to the question as to
the relative merits of preaching from or without manuscript ;
or as it is very commonly put, preaching, or simply reading
sermons.

4

If one were to be guided by authorities on the art of
public speaking, the question would be easily decided ; for
while I know of many writers on this art who have spoken
very decidedly against reading discourses, I know of none
worth mentioning who gives the preference to the opposite
practice. Campbell says : ^ *That a discourse well spoken has
a stronger effect than one well read, will hardly bear a ques-
tion. From this manifest truth I very early concluded, and
was long of opinion, that the way of reading sermons should
be absolutely banished from the pulpit. But from fiirther
experience I am now disposed to suspect that this conclusion
was rather hasty.' He goes on to state that he found so
very few attained to excellence in speaking their discourses,
while a considerable number read tolerably, that he deemed
it, upon the whole, preferable to have the plan, which in
itself was inferior, and admitted only of a respectable medio-
crity, generally adopted ; not, therefore, because he thought
it better, but because a certain degree of success in it was
easier. Blair, with all his coldness and moderation, gives
his decision in a tone still more decided. He says :^ * The
practice of reading sermons is one of the greatest obstacles
to the eloquence of the pulpit in Great Britain, where alone
this practice prevails ' (alone in Blair's time, though far from

* Lectures on Pulpit Eloquence^ p. 159.

* Lectures^ ii. p. 297.

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 217

being so now). ' No discourse which is designed to be per-
suasive can have the same force when read as when spoken.
The common people all feel this, and their prejudice against
this practice is not without foundation in nature. What is
gained hereby in point of correctness is not equal, I appre-
hend, to what is lost in point of persuasion and force.'

In a former generation, Bishop Burnet spoke of the prac-
tice as one 'peculiar to the English nation, and endured by
no other.' So distasteful was it on its first general introduc-
tion there, that Charles ii. issued a proclamation forbidding
it as * a supine and superficial way of preaching,' as it was
characterized, which had lately sprung up, and ought to be
laid aside. Whately, in more recent times, refrains from
pronouncing a judgment on. the comparative advantages of
the two methods with reference to the pulpit ; for he will
hardly allow himself to regard it-as an open question, whether
sermons should be read or not He takes it for granted that
they will be read, and contents himself with giving some
directions which might help preachers to attain to a style
of reading that would approximate preaching as to ap-
parent naturalness and real power. But his very speech
betrays how he felt as to the relative tendencies of the two
modes, and which of them he thought best calculated in
itself to produce effect. * It has been already remarked,' he
says, ' how easy it is for the hearers to keep up their attention
when they are addressed by one who is really speaking to
them in a natural and earnest manner, though the discourse,
perhaps, may be encumbered with a good deal of repetition,
awkwardness of expression, and other faults incident to ex-
temporaneous language ; and though if be prolonged for an
hour or two, and yet contain no more matter than a good
writer could have clearly expressed in a discourse of half an
hour, which last, if read to them, would not, without some
effort on their part, have so fully detained their attention.'
Of course, therefore, other things being equal, the speaker

2l8 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

has a great advantage over the reader for sustaining the
interest of his auditors, and gaining the practical ends he
aims at. Hare, who was more free, and less trammelled in
his judgment on such matters by conventional arrangements,
leaves no room to doubt how he thought upon the subject :^
' What do our clergy lose,' says he, * by reading their ser-
mons ? They lose preaching ; the preaching of the voice in
many cases, the preaching of the eye almost always.' And
to name but: another, the late excellent Mr. James very
earnestly dissuades from the practice of reading :^ ' Nothing,'
he says, * can be conceived of more likely to repress earnest-
ness and to hinder our usefulness than this method becoming
general. True it is, that some preachers may rise up, who,
like a few living examples, may in despite of this practice
attain to eminence, to honour, and to usefulness, such as
rarely falls to the lot of ministers in any denomination ; but
this will not be the case with the greater number, who,
having no commanding talent to lift them above the disad-
vantage of this habit, will find few churches willing to accept
their dulness for the sake of the accuracy with which it is
expressed. And who can tell how much greater our greatest
men would be if they delivered their sermons without their
notes ? ' *

Certainly, as regards the general feeling in congregations,
at least in Scotland, there is a strong advantage on the side
of the non-reading preacher. He takes the course which
appears to them both natural and proper, so that the way is

"• Guesses at Trutk^ vol. ii. p. 214. ' Earnest Ministry, p. 124.

* It is worthy of note ako that the introduction of the practice among
the English Nonconformists was not of very happy omen. * In the
course of the second period (that is, near the close of last century), it
became the fashion among the Dissenting ministers to F^d their ser-
mons. Brief outlines of the sermon had been made use of by some of
the Nonconformists to assist the memory ; a few had the whole placed
before them, which they looked at occasionally ; but the greater part
made themselves masters of the subject, and preached without notes.

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 219

in a manner open for him to make such impression on their
minds as the matter with which he is charged is calculated
to produce. With the person, however, who reads his dis-
courses there is, first of all, a repugnance to be overcome ;
he has to fight his way, in a manner, to a favourable hearing,
to confront and triumph over an acknowledged prejudice.
All must admit this to be so far a disadvantage were the
feeling in questipn nothing but a prejudice without any valid
grounds to rest on ; for there are prejudices which wise and
prudent men will never fail to respect, which aposties even
were obliged to humour in order that they might not preach
in vain, or labour in vain. But I doubt if, in the present case,
the feeling should be treated simply and in all cases as a
prejudice. Even Blair says : ' It has its foundation in nature,*
as, indeed, the general practice of mankind in regard to
public speaking clearly evinces. It springs from a prevail-
ing and deep-rooted conviction, that when men thoroughly
in earnest undertake to speak to their fellow-men on a sub-
ject of importance, they should be able to give expression
to their views and feelings without the formal apparatus
of a book, and with the freedom and elasticity of a spoken
address. It imdoubtedly has also, in this country at least,
the general testimony of results on its side ; for the preaching
which has usually been most appreciated by the better por-
tion of the community, and which has yielded by much the
largest harvest of spiritual good, is undoubtedly preaching

By degrees reading slipt into general use with those who wrote their
discourses at full length, not only among the Presbyterians, but the In-
dependents too; and there were few of the London ministers in either
of these denominations who did not pore very much over their notes.
Towards the close of the period the practice was at its height Not to
use notes was at that time accounted methodistical ; and in the metro-
polis, reading was the evidence of Dissenting r^[ularity.' ^

* Bogue and Bennett's Hist of Dissenters^ vol. ii. p. 263.

220 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

in the stricter sense, preaching as contradistinguished from
reading ; the latter also, in many parts of the country, being
associated with sad memories of cold and lifeless ministra-
tions. And there is, I suspect, in the better class of our
Scottish population, a deeper and more sacred feeling still
at the bottom of their dislike to read sermons. They have
elevated views of the ministry of the gospel when it appears
to be prosecuted in an earnest and beheving spirit. He
who comes forth in such a spirit to discharge its duties,
especially in the preaching of the gospel, is regarded by
them as the bearer of a message from the Lord ; not as if he
had any new tidings to divulge, or truths never heard before
to communicate, but because he has on his spirit portions of
the word of God to unfold in its proper meaning and various
application, so that, relatively to their state and sense of
obligation, it comes to them as a fresh exhibition of divine
truth, a new opening to them of the coimsel of Heaven. Im-
pressed with such a conviction, and justly impressed with it,
they cannot understand how that should possess anything like
the character of a message to them from the upper sanctuary
which they see the minister reading calmly from a paper
before him. This presents to their view the aspect of an
essay composed, or a line of argumentation pursued, by the
reasoning faculties of the man ; a thing for the family or the^
closet rather than for the house of God, where the special
presence of the Spirit is expected, and where living communi-
cations should be ever passing between heaven and earth.
They judge, of course, from appearances. You cannot get
them to throw themselves back upon the pastor's study, and
consider whether there may not, for a well-spoken discourse,
have been as much previous preparation going on there as
for a read one, and whether the one kind of preparation may
not have been as much made under the guidance of the
Spirit as the other. They judge, as I have said, in great
measure from the appearance ; the one mode of delivering

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 221

the test;imony of God has much more than the other the
aspect of a real message, a direct dealing with their souls
about divine things; nor can they easily persuade themselves
that the pastor has the interests of salvation properly at
heart if he cannot disbourse to them with some freeness on
the subject And I fear, if the practice of reading should
become altogether or nearly universal, it would go far to
undermine the salutary feeling of which I speak. Sermons
read from the pulpit will come to be regarded much in the
light of a kind of book literature, and the idea cease to be
entertained of its being one of the appointed channels
through which the Spirit maintains living intercourse with
the souls of men.

Taking all these things into account, considering also the
difficulty, with all possible care and application, of acquiring
a manner in reading which shall approximate speaking in
naturalness and life, considering further the almost inevi-
table loss it involves of what Hare calls the preaching voice,
and especially the preaching eye, I have no hesitation in
giving my decided and earnest recommendation in favour
of preaching without manuscript, as in itself,- and apart from
any peculiar circumstances of place or otherwise, the method
that ought to be preferred. So clearly does this appear to me
to be the right course, that there should always, I think, be
strong and somewhat special reasons to warrant a departure
from it. I am by no means disposed to say such reasons
may not exist, and would deprecate any stringent regula-
tion on the subject, absolutely proscribing the use of papers
in the pulpit Sometimes the character of the congregation
may furnish an adequate reason, namely, when it is almost
wholly composed of persons of much culture and polish,
naturally disposing it to prize — ^to prize, perhaps, unduly —
the correct or the beautiful in thought and expression above
the emotional and impulsive; in such a case it may be
usually the wisest course to adopt the practice of reading.

A

222 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

The great majority of preachers, even of such as are dis-
tinguished by their powers of speech, might find this the
mode best adapted to render their ministrations most accept-
able and useful to the class of minds they have to deal with.
Sometimes, again, the occasion may furnish an adequate
reason, as when the discourse to be delivered is on some
topic on which it is desirable to bring forward a considerable
amount of specific information, or to treat it with much pre-
cision of thought and language ; in that case few congr^a-
tions would be so unreasonable as to object to the fi:ee use
of written preparations, for it is rather the solidity of the
matter, and the well-weighed, carefiilly-balanced expression
that is given tQ one's views respecting it, by which the dis-
course is to succeed in its aim, than its power to interest and
move the feelings. Still, again, there may be reasons in the
mental constitution of the preacher himself rendering it
every way probable, if not absolutely certain, that his man-
ner of delivery, on the whole, would be rather injured than
improved by the disuse of his notes. The case of Dr.
Chalmers may be referred to as one of the most noticeable
examples in this class. His cast of thought so deeply im-
pressed itself on his style, and that style was so much more
adapted for written composition than for extemporaneous
address, that his discourses, in anything approaching their
actual form, could scarcely have been delivered otherwise
than by reading from the manuscript Yet their vehement
and persuasive oratory was so intimately connected with the
very form in which they were produced, that one could
hardly have advised the alteration of the form in order
simply to get rid of the manuscript ; the more especially as
in his case, more perhaps than that of any other great exem-v
plar of eloquence, there was such an absorption of the man
in the subject, that it seemed much a matter of indiflference
whether he read or not. The rapt enthusiasm of the speaker
made everything external be forgotten ; and as it was clear

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 223

that the eye moved too much in a region of its own to keep
up the play of any direct interchange of feeling with the
audience, the effect was not sensibly marred by its resting
SO much on the written page. His case, however, was alto-
gether peculiar; it must be excepted from the common
category ; for as few could read like him in the pulpit as
write like him at the desL

Most commonly, when reasons are drawn from the per-
sonal idiosyncrasy of the preacher, they turn upon the felt
difficulty, the practical impossibility, of getting the subject
of discourse in the mind without writing the discourse in
full, and then committing it to memory, so that it must be
much the same thoughts and expressions which in either
case are presented to the minds of the congregation ; and
as to the preacher's own consciousness, there is little differ-
ence between the discourse as spoken or as read. As, more-
over, the preparation necessary to speak it costs much time
and irksome labour, and the actual speaking is attended
with manifold anxieties, not to say risks of failure, which
are avoided by the smoother course of reading, he deems
himself justified in resorting to this latter method, and
thinks it reasonable that the grounds of his decision should
prevail also with his audience. I have no doubt that there
are persons of good natural abilities, and in many respects
so qualified for the work of the ministry, that it were to be
regretted if the Church should lose their services, who yet,
from defect of memory or from nervous temperament, find
the work of preaching without manuscript so beset with
difficulties, that the other practice appears to them the only
one properly within their reach. It is also possible, by due
pains and well-directed effort, to get into a mode of reading
so easy and gracefiil and impressive, that it resembles much
a spoken address; for in this respect great diversities
undoubtedly exist It is possible, yet one cannot say
frequent; and there are two considerations which should

224 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

have much weight in disposing candidates for the ministry
to be cautious in giving way to such a style of thinking.
One is, that the practice of reading discourses ministers so
readily to the love of ease, that it is almost sure to call forth
by degrees less application, to grow less like speaking rather
than the reverse ; the manuscript, when once fairly trusted
to, will be increasingly depended on, and at last, perhaps,
slavishly adhered to. The other consideration is, that
unless one sits resolutely to the work of studying his subject
with the view of being prepared to preach without notes, he
scarcely knows what he can do in the matter, or what, in
the long run, would be the actual cost to him in time and
labour. The greatest difficulties lie here at the threshold ;
they call for vigorous and persevering application at the
outset ; but if this is given they gradually diminish, till an
amount of work is done, and done with comparative ease,
which at one time would have appeared incredible to the
person himself who succeeds in accomplishing it.

Take as an example the case of Thomas Scott the com-
mentator. In a letter to a country clergyman, Mr. Coffin,
published along with many others so late as 1845, Mr.
Newton sought to stimulate and encourage his correspon-
dent by the experience of Scott. * Mr. Scott,' he says,.' is
perhaps the most ready and fluent extempore preacher
amongst us ; yet when he agreed with me upon othfer points,
he still insisted that he should never be able to preach
without a book. For some time he read his prayer in his
chamber with his wife, and had not confidence to let even
her hear him without a form. . . . One day he was so taken
up that he could not possibly write his homily. He was
forced to speak ; and was not a little surprised when some
of the people told him they hoped he would read no more,
for they had never heard him so well before. From that
time he laid his notes aside.* Indeed, he went to the
opposite extreme, of not only la3ang aside notes, but ceasing

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 22$

to write them; he simply premeditated his subject, and
used what words and illustrations came to his hand at the
moment of delivery, an extreme I by no means recommend.
But in Mr. Scotfs case its injurious tendencies would
probably be in good measure counteracted by the vigour
of his imderstanding, his uncommon acquaintance with
Scripture, and the constant exercise of his pen in other
departments of labour. I point to his example mainly in
proof of the success which often attends the resolute endea-
vour to overcome the difficulties that seem to render pro-
gress in the line I recommend all but impracticable. For
those, however, who resolve to make the attempt of preach-
ing without manuscript, various methods may be adopted,
according to their own peculiar gifts and predilections. In
every case, where absolute necessity does not prevent, there
should be careful preparation. But this, with some, may
take the form of fully thinking out the subject in their mind,
with comparatively little in the way of writing, which, by
practice, may be carried to the extent of arranging almost
every line of thought and illustration, many a paragraph
also of the discourse, while still leaving the mind at some
liberty to follow the impulse of the moment, and to speak
as the Spirit may give them utterance. This is the plan
that has been followed by some of the most eminent
preachers, as well in former as in present times. Of Mr.
Hall, for example, we are told by Dr. Leifchild in his
memoirs : * I learnt from him that most of his great sermons
were first worked out in thought, and inwardly elaborated
in the very words in which they were delivered. He
ridiculed the delusion of those who supposed that the
perorations of his sermons were delivered impromptu^ ob-
serving that they were the most carefully studied 'parts of
the whole discourse.* Or the method may be adopted of
writing the introduction in full, one or more of the heads

of discourse, with select portions of other parts ; and, for

p

226 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.
t

the rest, merely placing the thoughts in order, adjusting
the materials, but leaving the language to the moment of
delivery. This method has the advantage of obliging the
mind to have its course of thought and illustration very
distinctly marked out beforehand, and also of providing it
with a certain amount of suitable matter for the occasion,
while at ever-recurring intervals it gives scope to the free
expression of thoughts and feelings as they arise. Only, as
in the former case, it will certainly require, to be managed
with success, a considerable degree of self-possession, with
clearness of vision and readiness of utterance; otherwise
there is sure to appear at particular parts a hesitancy, a
confusion of thought, or perhaps a tendency to fall into
repetitions. With the requisite amount of talent and ade-
quate preparation such things may be prevented, but they
will need to be well guarded against. Still another method
has been adopted by some, that of writing the discourse
throughout, then reading it carefully over once and again
so as to get the entire train of thought on the memory, and
many of the particular expressions also in which it is
unfolded; yet without attempting to have it committed
verbatiniy which, from experience, they find to be irksome
and embarrassing. When such a plan can be followed
without material inconvenience, that is, when it suits the
preacher's mental habits, it may be followed with advantage,
combining, as it does, careful preparations with a rational
freedom in the use of them. But the instances are not,
perhaps, very numerous in which it will be found practically
available. For, generally speaking, when one has been at
the pains of writing all beforehand, the mind will not be
satisfied with itself if it does not also present its thoughts in
the same form to others ; and a conscious departure from
that form in the delivery will usually have the effect of dis-
concerting the preacher, and of rendering his manner hesi-
tating and embarrassed. It will only succeed where there is

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 227

such a want of faithfulness and precision in the memory as
convinces the individual of his utter inability to adhere
closely to what he has written, and at the same time a con-
scious need of the support it provides.

But, undoubtedly, the more common method, and the
one that will probably be found in the great majority of
cases to be most practicable, is to write, if not absolutely
all the discourse, yet all that is of much moment, and so far
to commit it to memory as to be able to deliver it with sub-
stantial correctness from the pulpit, with nothing more,
perhaps, than a brief outline of the train of thought. At
first, no doubt, this will usually be accompanied with a
sense of irksomeness in the effort to get such a mass of pre-
conceived matter upon the mind, and a feeling of restraint
in uttering it. But by exercise these gradually give way ;
the manner of composition adapts itself more and more
closely to the manner of delivery, and the memory both
acquires more easily, and with more fidelity retains, what has
been written, so that the preacher comes to write much as
he would speak, and to speak much as if he was not adher-
ing to any pre-arranged form of words. People who have
not fairly tried this method can have no adequate idea of
the extent to which it can be realized, and of the indefinite
nearness to which the utterance of the speaker can be made
to approach in style and spirit the habits of the writer.

The degree of preparation, however, which has now been
recommended, is sometimes thought too much, has even
been stigmatized by persons of some standing and experi-
ence as at variance with the apostolic idea of preaching, and
incompatible with the true power of the pulpit. It is done
particularly in the spirited treatise of Dr. Arthur, The Tongue
of Fire, The treatise contains not a little that is excellent
and deserving of serious consideration, but is somewhat
one-sided, looking at the subject from what may be called
more especially the Methodist point of view, as if the end

228 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

k

of preaching were almost exclusively conversion, and the
minister had only to aim at the bringing of souls to
Christ And this, as formeriy stated, is so very fundamental
and primary an object in the ministerial calling, that I
regret having to say anything that may even seem to take
oflf the min4 from it, or to lessen its relative importance. It
is immensely the greatest, but still it is not the whole ; and
to contemplate it as the exclusive object of a minister's
anxiety and labour, is not, I am convinced, the best way of
securing even that, as it naturally leads to the undue eleva-
tion of some elements of power, and the comparative or total
neglect of others. Contemplating the matter chiefly from
the point of view now mentioned, the writer in question
states it to be the right feeling for every one who goes to
preach the gospel, after having been at some pains to think
over and digest the truth : ' I am here to say just what God
may enable me to say ; to be enlarged or to be straitened,
according as He may be pleased to give utterance or not.'^
And with this feeling, he says, *all appearances ought to
correspond. It ought to be manifest that, while he has done
what in him lies to be thoroughly furnished, he is trusting
for utterance to help from above, and not ensuring it by
natural means, either a manuscript or memory. We put
these together, because we do not see that any distinction
really exists between them. The plea that the manuscript
is more honest than memoriter preaching has some force,
but certainly not much, for he that reads from his memory
is to the feeling and instinct of his hearers as much reading
as he who reads from his manuscript. In neither case are
the thoughts and feelings gushing straight from the mind,
and clothing themselves as they come. The mind is taking
up words from paper or from memory, and doing its best to
animate them with feeling. Even intellectually the opera-
tion is essentially different from speaking, and the difference

1 P. 322.

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 229

IS felt by all. For literary purposes, for intellectual gratifi-
cation, both have a decided advantage over speaking ; but
for the purposes of pleading, entreating, winning, and creat-
ing a sense of fellowship, for impelling and arousing, for
doing good, speaking is the natural, is the Creator's instru-
ment.* He admits that other modes may be, and have
been, blessed for good ; but still he says of reading, either
from the manuscript or from memory, that it is not Scrip-
tural preaching. * It is not ministering after the mode of
Pentecostal Christianity ; it is a departure from Scriptural
precedent, an adoption of a lower order of public ministra-
tions, and a solemn declaration that security of utterance
gained by natural supports is preferred over a liability to be
humiliated by trusting to the help of the Lord.'

With much esteem for the author of these sentiments, I
yet feel constrained to say, that the passage appears to me
to contain quite false assumptions, false alike in the psycho-
logy and in the Scriptural idea of the subject, and is much
fitted, if reduced to practice, to lead to disappointed hopes
and unsatisfying results. First of all, it is ridiculous to say
that to speak fi:om memory what has been committed to it
beforehand is all one with reading, as in both cases alike
the mind can only take up the words which lie before it,
and do its best to animate them with feeling. Can a senti-
ment not be impregnated with the feeHngs of the heart
which is presented to it even in the most definite form
through the memory ? What, in that case, would become
of the great Pentecostal address itself, one half of which and
more consists of Scripture quotations, and which, doubtless,
came into Peter's lips through his memory ? Shall we say
of that portion of his address, that he was only reading from
memory, and doing what he could to animate it with feeling,
while the other portions alone were what he uttered from
the Spirit ? But why may not the memory, as well as any
other part of the mental constitution, the reason, for ex-

^30 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

ample, or the feelings, be used by the Spirit to bring
thoughts and words seasonably to the preacher's mind ? If
I study and digest my subject carefully beforehand, as Dr.
Arthur advises, I necessarily exercise my reasoning powers
and my memory too ; and in doing so I necessarily employ
natural means to ensure, so far as such means can ensiure, a
suitable and appropriate command of thought and expres-
sion when I actually preach. But, on Dr. Arthur's principle,
this is to distrust the Spirit j it is to resort to natural means
for what He alone is competent to give, so that to refrain
from all special preparation beforehand would be the
legitimate result of such a mode of contemplation ; the
whole should be left to the voluntary impulse of the
moment This, however, is simply fanaticism ; it is to
confound the Spirit's ordinary influence with a supernatural
afflatus, given independently, and apart from the exercise of
the mind's own faculties. Even inspiration, the highest
form of spiritual influence, was not so arbitrary and inde-
pendent in its action. It, too, gave free scope to the
memory and the reason, as well as the emotional faculties
of the soul; and on various occasions we find both prophets
and apostles, when speaking as they were moved by the
Holy Ghost, reiterating, not the thoughts merely, but the
precise words of entire sentences and paragraphs of former
messengers of God. If they could thus serve themselves of
other men's words and ideas — serve themselves, of course,
through memory — ^while not the less speaking under the
power of the Spirit, surely I, speaking under an inferior
action of the same power, may still more make a similar use
of my own.

But again, even if it were the case, which it is not, St.
Peter's preaching on the day of Pentecost proceeded, apart
from the natural use and exercise of the memory, in recall-
ing previous trains of thought and forms of expression, we
should not have been warranted to conclude that the em-

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 23 1

ployment of memory, or of any other natural faculties, was
thereby disparaged in the future preaching of the gospel.
It is an essential and general characteristic of the Spirit* s
work, that He adapts Himself to the laws of mental action
in those through whom He works, and to the circumstances
in which for the time they happen to be placed. Beyond all
question, the circumstances of the day of Pentecost were to
a large extent peculiar, both as regards speakers and hearers.
What mainly was needed on that memorable occasion was
conviction, and for thisj only the exhibition of a few simple
facts respecting the person of Jesus, His death and resur-
rection, brought to bear with power on the hearts and con-
sciences of men : this was all. And accordingly the speech
of Peter on the occasion consisted mainly of a brief rehearsal
of the great facts of the case, with the application of a few
ancient prophecies referring to them, followed by a personal
appeal to the individuals addressed. For a speech of that
description, not only no previous writing, but not even any
special forethought and meditation of the subject, could be
required. But look to other apostolic speeches, to St. Paul's
speech, for example, before the Areopagus, where not so
much the feelings as the reason of the audience had to be
won, do we not feel in reading it as if we had to do with a
compactly arranged and most carefully thought out dis-
coiu-se ? Or look to the two accounts he gives of his own
conversion, though traversing substantially the same ground,
yet each of them admirably adapted to the different audi-
ences he addressed, and the more immediate objects he had
in view : all showing what varieties the Spirit can employ in
the style and mode of address, and consequently in the
faculties called into play for its conception and utterance.
Dr. Arthur himself, in another part of his treatise, admits
this, and apparently forgets at one place what he has written
at another.^ * This fire,' he says, ' may be combined with

232 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

any form of talent, and with any style of composition. Who
has not seen a tranquil man, whose tones seldom rose to
passion, and never went beyond the severest taste ; whose
thought, demeanour, phrases, all breathed a gentle and quiet
spirit ; and yet, with the placid flow of instruction or ex-
position, a heavenly influence stole silently along ; stole into
the veins of the heart, diffusing a sacred glow, a desire to be
holier, a sense of nearness to God, a refreshing of all the
good principles within you, a check and a restraint on all
the evil ? Again, you have seen a man, who begins with
some calm argument, passes to another point, closely rea-
soned, which again leads him to another well-pointed stroke
at some error or prejudice ; no by-play of imagination, no
home-thrust to your heart, but one steady grapple with your
intellect, a discourse which would be pronounced dry were
it not for a mysterious power which accompanies it,* and so
on with several other varieties of mental action and well-
constructed discourse. But I wonder how many such dis-
courses one might reasonably expect to hear on the author's
view of the Spirit's influence and the preacher's duty. De-
pend on it they will seldom be met with, except in connec-
tion with the sedulous employment of natural means, as
well as humble trust in spiritual agencies ; and memory will
have its full share in the matter, calling up the various
forms of thought and modes of expression, which had pre-
viously been cogitated as best fitted to promote the end in
view.

The more, too, that the world advances in knowledge
and refinement, the higher that any particular congregation
stands in intellectual culture, the greater always is the variety
of talents that must be called into play, and the more may
the Spirit be expected to make use of the treasures of
memory, as well as other resources, to act upon the soul.
For the classes that evangelistic agents or itinerant preachers
have chiefly to deal with, a comparatively small range of

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 233

topics may be sufficient ; and the power to be put forth has
only to rouse insensibility and impress the heart. Very
commonly in such cases, the bluff, off-hand, earnest, but
coarse and rambling speaker is the instrument best adapted
to the purpose. But the same speaker might produce only
disgust elsewhere ; and hence it is that the most eminently
useful of that class of preachers, within a limited circle, very
rarely succeed as pastors of regular congregations.

Still further, the view against which we argue is not borne
out, but, on the contrary, opposed to established facts. No
doubt there are facts in abundance to support the view in
question so far. If the case had been put conditionally, if
it were said that preaching memoriier may be, and often is,
only a sort of reading, the mind being chiefly taken up with
its effort to remember what was written, and able to do
nothing more than utter with formal correctness its prepared
sentences, one could not have questioned the fact, and as
little commended the practice in that form of it as a proper
specimen of apostolic preaching. But if properly cultivated,
it both may and will exist in a very different form, and also
be productive of far other results. When the method is
followed as it ought to be, that is, when the discourse has
been prepared with a suitable adaptation to the preacher*s
own manner, as well as to the audience he has to address,
and has been thoroughly got upon the mind and heart of
the preacher, there will usually be a marked difference in
his mode of delivering it from what would have been the
case if it had been simply read from his notes ; a difference
such that the auditors cannot with any certainty infer how
much is due to previous preparation, how much to the feel-
ing and impulse of the moment Did not He who spake as
never man spake Himself repeat over again on several
occasions the very words He had uttered before ? But if
so, wherein did this differ from preaching memoriter ? It is
notorious, also, that some of the most gifted preachers, not

234 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

excepting those who were not in the habit of writing out theii"
discourses, Whitfield for example, have been known usually
to preach with most effect when for the second or third time
they spoke from the same text The reason is that they had
then come to obtain a more thorough command of the sub-
ject, so that the thoughts and words came more promptiy to
the call of memory. Were I to refer to my own observation
and experience, I should have no hesitation in saying, that
the discourses which I have listened to with most profit,
which have raised the deepest spiritual feeling, and which
manifestly bore with them the largest unction firom the Holy
One, were discourses which came from the preacher, indeed,
with the greatest apparent fireedom, but which I knew to
have been carefully prepared beforehand ; yet surely, operat-
ing as they did, they were in the strictest sense the Creator's
instrument of working. I have seen whole audiences moved
by such discourses as I have never seen them moved by
any others. And in the course of my own ministry, I have
noted that the occasions on which the most distinct benefit
was reaped, have with few exceptions been those in which
my own preparations had been most careful and complete.

But in sa3dng this, is an)rthing indicated at variance with
the idea, that only when the Spirit accompanies the efforts
of the preacher does the word go forth with power ? Would
I, or any one who has experience in the work of God, ever
dream of making human preparations independent of the
Spirit? No, assuredly ; it is still that Spirit alone which quick-
eneth, quickeneth the soul of the preacher to utter aright
the things of God, as well as the souls of the people to hear
them aright Without the Spirit breathing as a divine power
through his heart, and giving life to his words, let those
words be ever so correct in themselves, and ever so fitly
remembered and spoken, they will be found at most as a
pleasant sound to the ear, or a gratification to the intellect ;
but with no saving or permanent results. Yes, the Spirit is

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 23$

the one effective agent ; and only in so far as we are in
communion with His fiihiess of life and blessing can our
pulpit ministrations proceed either with comfort to ourselves
or with spiritual profit to those who wait on them.

My earnest counsel and advice, therefore, to those who
are entering on the work of the ministry, is, Let no one
dissuade you from the painstaking and careful preparation
of your discourses. Your manner of delivery need not suffer
by it, will not suffer, if you go rightly about the work ;
and your matter will assuredly gain. The cases are few,
indeed, of those who can adequately minister to stated con-
gregations without such preparatory work, compared with
those who indispensably require it. But beware of trusting
unduly to it ; as if, when you have written well, and delivered
accurately what you have written, nothing more were needed.
Believe, rather, that nothing can be done to purpose unless
the Spirit of God mingle with your spirit, and give effect to
the words you speak. And even as regards the method, do
not tie yourselves up to a specific line. In practical ap-
peals especially, and the improvement of particular points,
give yourself up occasionally to the impulse of the moment.
And at what may be called extra services, and in district
prayer meetings, cultivate a freer manner of speech, learn
to speak from premeditation merely, not from written pre-
parations. And thus, in this respect also, becoming all
things to all men, disusing at one time what you feel you
must use at another, you may the better hope to succeed in
the great object of your calling.

See some good remarks and, ad vices in Bautain's Art of
Extempore Speakir^^ as to the details of manner, the manage-
ment of bodily feelings, voice, etc. And on the matter .of care-
ful preparation, the following statements of Lord Brougham
are deserving of consideration ; the more so, as he was
himself regarded as one of the readiest as well as most
effective speakers of his time in Parliament. It may be

2^6 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

added, that Robert Hall, on hearing the sentiments read
from the 'Inaugural Address,' said, 'Brougham is quite
right, sir. Preparation b everything. If I were asked
what is the chief requisite for eloquence, I should reply,
preparatian; and what the second^ preparation ; and what
the third, preparation* Then, with a sigh, * If I had pre-
pared more for the pulpit, I should have been a much better
preacher.' *

After stating that generally the ancients showed even * ex-
cessive care in the preparation of their speeches ;' that Cicero
kept a ' book of passages, to be used on occasions ;' that
Demosthenes prot»bly had the same : * At all events,' he says,
* one thing is certain, that he, Demosthenes, was very averse
to extempore speaking, and most reluctantly, as he expressed
it, "trusted to his success in fortune;" and his orations
abound in passages, and even in parts of passages, again
and again used by him with such improvements as their
reception or deUvery, or his own subsequent reflection, sug-
gested. I have examined this subject very fully on different
occasions, and I find the views taken are approved by Attic
scholars both in England and France. But I dwell upon
the subject at present in order to illustrate the necessity of
full preparation and of written composition to those who
would attain real excellence in the rhetorical art' He ad-
mits that * Si certain proficiency in public speaking may be
acquired by any one who chooses often to try it, and can
harden himself against the pain of firequent failures.' But
he denies that any one can ever in this way become truly
eloquent : * The loose, slovenly, and poor diction, the want
of art in combining and disposing of his ideas, the inability
to bring out many of his thoughts, and the incompetency to
present any of them in the best and most efiicient form, will
reduce the speaker to the level of an ordinary talker. His
diction is sure to be clumsy, incorrect, imlimited in quantity,
* Greene's Reminiscmces of Robert Hall, p. 138.

THE SPECIAL DUTIES OF THE PASTORAL OFFICE. 237

and bf no value. It is the greatest of all mistakes,' he adds,
* to fancy that even a carefully prepared passage cannot be
delivered before a modem assembly. I once contended on
this point with an accomplished classical scholar, and no in-
considerable speaker himself. Lord Melbourne, who imme-
diately imdertook to point out the passages which I had
prepared, and those which were given off-hand, and on the
inspiration of the moment. He was wrong in almost every
guess he made. Lord Denman, on a more remarkable occa-
sion, at the bar of the House of Lords, in the Queen's case,
made the same mistake upon the passage delivered before
the adjomnment in the middle of the first day of the defence.
The objection made,* he continues, * that prepared passages
are artificial, and disclose the preparation, is groundless. In
the first place, nothing can be more artificial than a speech
must in almost all cases necessarily be, which is anything
beyond mere conversation. Next, it is the diction, not the
substance, which is prepared ; and, finally, if the art used is
shown, and not concealed, the artist alone is in fault.' ^

Indeed, the same things substantially were said, though
with a little less of personal allusion, in his Inaugural Ad-
dress at Glasgow in 1825. ' I should lay it down as a rule,*
he then said, * admitting of no exception, that a man will
speak well in proportion as he has written much ; and that
with equal talents he will be the finest extempore speaker,
when no time for preparing is allowed, who has prepared
himself the most sedulously when he had an opportunity
of delivering a premeditated speech. All the exceptions
which I have ever heard cited to this principle are apparent
ones only, proving nothing more than that some few men,
of rare genius, have become great speakers without prepara-
tion ; in nowise showing, that with much preparation they
would not have reached a much higher pitch of excellence.*
He then refers to Cicero and Demosthenes as one of the
^ Installation Address at Edinburgh, 18th May i860.

2$S THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

best proofs of what he has said ; and afterwards remarks, 'We
may rest assured, that the highest reaches of the art, and
without any necessary sacrifice of natural effect, can only be
attained by him who well considers, and maturely prepares,
and oftentimes sedulously corrects and refines his oration.
Such preparation is quite consistent with the introduction of
passages prompted by the occasion ; nor will the transition
from the one to the other be perceptible in the execution of
a practised master.'

DIFFERENT RINDS OF DISCOURSES. 239

CHAPTER V.

DIFFERENT KINDS OF DISCOURSES.

THE observations hitherto made on the composition
and delivery of discourses have had respect to dis-
courses generally, with little or no reference to the distinc-
tive properties which ought to characterize one species of
discourse as compared with another. There are specific
differences which it is not unimportant to note, as on the
proper observance of them not a little depends for the
attainment of success in the several kinds. Not to speak
of minor shades of distinction, there are at least four pretty
distinctly marked classes, although these may at times ap-
proach indefinitely near to each other, and the same dis-
course may occasionally admit of being assigned partly to
one class and partly to another.

I. Expository Discourses, — Discourses of an expository
character, lectures^ as they are usually designated in Scot-
land, can never fail to be at least occasionally delivered,
where there is an evangelical ministry, animated by a just
desire to have the people brought to an intelligent acquaint-
ance with the word of God. But nowhere, perhaps, has the
practice been so generally followed as in Scotland, where
the custom has long prevailed ofv having one, and com-
monly the first, of two discourses on the Lord*s day of this
description. As early as the times of the Commonwealth,
this practice of expounding in order a few verses out of

240 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

some book of Scripture existed as a recognised and estab-
lished part of the ordinary church service ; and some of the
best remains of the pulpit literature of the period consist of
the expository discourses so delivered. It is enough to
name those of Leighton, Binning, Hutcheson, and Durham.
These expository preachers, however, were but followers of
other and in some respects still greater men, who preceded
them in the same line. The more eminent Reformers were
masters in this species of discourse, Calvin in particular, a
large portion of whose published writings, bearing the name of
commentaries, first took shape as expositions delivered from
the pulpit ; and not a few also of the freshest and most valu-
able of Luther's works had the same origin. Indeed, we may
ascend to a much earlier time still, even to the flourishing
period of Patristic literature, which, if not to the same extent,
yet in a very considerable degree, was distinguished for the
regard it paid to expository preaching. The expositions of
Augustine on the Psalms and on the Gospel of John, as well
as the homilies, as they have been called, of Chrysostom on
many of the books of New Testament Scripture, all originally
addressed to cohgregations in the sanctuary, are, as a whole,
decidedly the best specimens which have come down to
us of the pulpit ministrations of those ancient times. In
England the prevailing practice now, and for a long period,
has been quite different : discourses of this description can
scarcely be said to form a recognised and distinct class.
For the most part, they are given very occasionally; so
much so that Alford ^ says, ' the general neglect of this kind
of preaching among them is lamentable,' worse even than in
Popish countries ; for * any visitor,' he tells us, * to Roman
churches abroad will be deeply sensible of the loss which
we thus incur in our influence firom the pulpit* I confess I
did not know that the balance in this respect lay so much
on that side ; but, certainly, one seldom hears from English

* Essays and Addresses, p. 12.

DIFFERENT KINDS OF DISCOURSES. 241

pulpits discourses which take the form of an exposition of
a particular passage of Scripture, still more seldom of an
exposition in regular order of a particular book. And hence
the comparatively small proportion which such works form
of English theological literature.

From the greater scope allowed in expository discourses,
the broader Scriptural basis assumed for them, and the
wider compass of doctrine or duty embraced in them, an
impression not unnaturally prevails, that they are more
easily constructed than discourses on single texts, that it is
a simpler matter to lecture than to preach. It, no doubt,
may be so after a fashion. A kind of tolerable exposition
of a passage may be given, some useful explanations thrown
out upon its meaning, and just observations raised on its
contents, with less expenditure of thought than would be
required for the production of a connected discourse on a
single text But that very facility which is afforded by the
nature of the discourse for making the necessary prepara-
tion too commonly proves a temptation to its being done
in a much less effective and satisfactory manner than is both
practicable and proper. And hence, probably, it is, that
the expository discourse is so often relatively inferior to the
sermon : the one presenting a regularly constructed whole,
with clear arrangement, judicious selection of matter, an
order and progression of thought such as the mind can
readily perceive and follow with interest; while in the
other, all is loose, rambling, undigested, no proportioning
of part to part, no exercise of skill in bringing out the
spirit and connection of the whole, much introduced that
had better been omitted, and points of interest and im-
portance overlooked which should have received careful
consideration. And it is not, perhaps, too much to say,
that a considerable number of preachers of average
abiHties and resources, have never got a sufficiently de-
finite conception of what an expository discourse should

Q

242 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

be, at least have failed in any competent degree to
realize it

(i.) In throwing out a few suggestions upon the subject, it
will not be necessary to dwell on what, in certain discourses,
is a matter of some importance, the choice of the passage
or subject; for, usually, the practice is to be preferred of
proceeding in regular order through an entire book, or some
considerable portion of a book of Scripture. There are
obvious advantages connected with this method. In the
first instance, it provides the preacher with a subject which
he feels himself in a manner called in providence to handle;
and so not only saves him from much wasteful expenditure
of time in doubt and hesitancy, but also obliges him to give
himself to the orderly and systematic study of Scripture.
It also accustoms the people of his charge to somewhat of
the same careful, continuous search into the meaning of
Scripture, as the Book which is throughout given by in-
spiration of God for the instruction and guidance of faith ;
so that they come to know it, not in a few select and isolated
fragments, but, in a measure, according to its variety and
completeness. Besides, opportunities thus continually pre-
sent themselves of directing attention to many things which
call for correction or advice ; but which are either in them-
selves of so delicate a nature, or so apt to give occasion in
some quarters to offence, that one would rather, if possible,
avoid the appearance of expressly choosing a text for the
purpose of bringing them into notice. These, taken to-
gether, will be foui^d practically no slight advantages con-
nected with the method of a regular course of exposition
through some portion of the word of God. And, as a
general rule, it will be best to adhere to this method, yet
without binding oneself down to a rigid uniformity, and
losing the benefit of a little variety by occasionally turning
to other pastures.

Still, with the adoption of such a rule, there is room for

DIFFERENT KINDS OF DISCOURSES. 243

the exercise of prudence and discretion in the matter of
selection. For, while all Scripture is profitable for instruc-
tion, it cannot be all handled with equal adaptation and
advantage by the same individual. There are portions
which, partly from their own nature, and partly, perhaps, from
the relation in which they stand to his mental endowments
and Christian experience, may be said to lie, in a measure,
out of his beat for continuous treatment ; and it is well to
know that there are books, as well as texts in Scripture,
which may suit one, but not another. Even what portions
of Scripture the pastor does resolve at one period or another
to overtake, it may be of importance to take in one order
rather than another. • Of New Testament Scripture, for
example, the Gospels will almost uniformly be found better
suited for a first course of exposition than any of the
Epistles ; and of the Gospels themselves, which ever may
be first chosen, it should certainly not be that of John,
which, with all its apparent, and also real simplicity, pos-
sesses a depth and fulness of meaning, a lofty grandeur and
spirituality of thought, which cannot be successfully grappled
with in a course of regular exposition without considerable
maturity of Christian knowledge and experience, as well as
exercised skill in the work of interpretation. The Epistles,
also, differ considerably from each other, in respect to the
comparative ease or difficulty which attends their successful
elucidation ; but no graduated scale can be applied to
them j for a particular cast of mind, or a definite course of
preparatory study, may render one or other of them more
readily capable of fitting treatment by particular persons,
than might be judged likely from the nature alone of the'
epistle. But in respect to the closing book of Scripture,
the Revelation of St. John, I am inclined to say, that except
in select portions, such as the three first chapters, and
several very precious and pregnant passages which occur at
intervals elsewhere, it is not adapted to a course of ordinary

244 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

exposition ; and if respect be had to the common mode of
dealing with its prophetic symbols, I would say, not even
for extraordinary. The manner in which some preachers
rush into the popular arena with this book, and the readi-
ness and confidence with which they apply its mysterious
imagery to specific events in past and present times, is to
me a source of unfeigned regret. The book undoubtedly
has most important uses, important for the Church at large
as well as for the retired student of Scripture ; but these are
scarcely for exhibition in a series of popular discourses before
a general audience ; and when so employed, the strain of
exposition is extremely apt to run into what tends rather to
gratify a love for the novel or the marvellous than to pro-
mote personal edification.

The Scriptures of the Old Testament are characterized by
much the same kind of differences as those which are found
in the New, only somewhat more variously and strongly
marked. The portions best adapted, upon the whole, for a
series of expository discourses are the historical books, the
historical at least more than the prophetical ; for, in conse-
quence of the imperfect nature of the dispensation under
which the prophets lived, and the comparatively obscure
medium through which the things of God's kingdom were
presented to their view, passages are ever and anon occur-,
ring which are of difficult interpretation even to the most
skilled interpreters, and which it is not quite easy to make
perfectly intelligible to an ordinary congregation. Expe-
rience has brought me to the conviction that, in regard to
most of the prophetical writings of the Old Testament, a
course of exposition on select portions would be more satis-
factory to the preacher, and more profitable to his hearers,
than one that should aim at embracing every chapter and
verse in each. But the book of. Psalms, which contains
prophetical as well as devotional and didactic elements,
ipight be taken almost entire, and for the most part is well

DIFFERENT KINDS OF DISCOURSES. 245

adapted to this species of discourse ; only, from the poetical
colouring that pervades it, and the manifold variety of life
and experience it embodies, very few preachers will find
themselves equally at home in all the portions of it; so
that it may usually be most expedient to take it at intervals,
and as much as possible in connection with the parts of Old
Testament history on which it so often leans. It has been
the practice also of some of our best expository preachers
to alternate between the books of the Old and those of the
New Testament, for the purpose of securing a greater variety
to their ministrations, and getting an opportunity of explain-
ing more fully the things pertaining to both covenants.
But in such matters no one need bind himself to the method
of another. Respect must be had to the circumstances of
one*s own position, and to what may seem, upon the whole,
best calculated to promote the spiritual good of the people
entrusted to his care.^

(2.) When the general subject for exposition has been
fixed, the next thing demanding consideration is the pro-
portion of text to be embraced in each particular discourse.
This will very commonly, at least in the historical books,
well-nigh determine itself; but it may also, both in these
and other portions, call for some care and discrimination.
It is easier, however, to say regarding it what should not be
done than what should. A very lengthened portion should
not usually be taken, as the topics in that case will be too
numerous and varied to admit of that precision and indi-
viduality which are essential to the interest and usefulness
of a discourse. On the other hand, a very limited portion,
comprising not more, perhaps, than one or two verses,

^ It is scarcely necessary to remark, that there are passages, both in
the historical and prophetical books of Scripture, which, on the score
of delicacy, are not suitable either for being read or expounded in a
promiscuous assembly. All Scripture is profitable for instruction, but
not necessarily as matter of public discourse.

84^ THE OFFICE AND DUTIES QF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

would commonly narrow so much the field of discussion,
that the discourse would possess the characteristics of a
sermon rather than of an expository lecture. Passages wiU
occasionally, however, be met with, especially in the doc-
trinal parts of Scripture, so pregnant in meaning, or calling
for so much in the way of explanation, that a single verse or
two may be all that can be adequately handled at a time.
But for the most part it is desirable that a passage of some
extent should be included, though it should, if possible, be
a passage presenting some sort of unity, or having such
threads of connection between one part and another as to
admit of the discourse based on it being something else
than a succession of remarks that bear no perceptible rela-
tion to each other, a series of scattered observations rather
than parts of a continuous discourse. In expository as well
as other discourses, it must always produce a measure of
dissatisfaction if two or three subjects altogether distinct
are brought together for discussion; the mind, in such a
case, has to pass too rapidly from topic to topic, and with-
out being able to retain that continuity or progression of
thought and feeling which it instinctively craves.

So much depends for the sustained interest and impres-
sion of a discourse upon a due regard to this internal imity
and connection, that the neglect of it may justly be reckoned
among the chief causes of failure. Even when the verses
taken contain a manifestly related whole, this is often in a
great degree lost sight of in the actual treatment given to
them; they are gone over in a kind of loose, desultory
manner, without any proper plan formed beforehand, or
distinct order followed; httle more attempted than the
raising of a few general remarks or observations upon it.
The parables of Jesus also, which, fi:om their very structure,
seem to invite a different treatment, are sometimes subjected
to the same mode of dealing. Plainly, each parable should
first be contemplated in its entireness, with the view of

• DIFFERENT KINDS OF DISCOURSES. ^47

obtaining a clear and distinct apprehension of its general
scope, so that afterwards tlie course of thought and illustra-
tion may be arranged in such a manner as may seem best
fitted to bring out the main theme, and exhibit the bearing
which the several parts have in regard to it In doing this,
however, whether in respect to the parables or to other
portions of Scripture, it should not be deemed necessary to
adhere to the precise order in which the topics present'
themselves on the sacred record. Sometimes it may be
advisable to depart more or less from this, in order to secure
a more natural progression or a better adjustment in the
different parts of the discourse. Nor should it be held as
at all essential that a formal announcement be made of the
plan and order intended to be pursued ; less so here than
in the case of sermons founded upon a single text, where
the mind is shut up to a narrower field, and requires to have
the lines of thought more definitely marked out before it.
In expository discourses, though this method may at times
be fitly enough adopted, yet it may also, and perhaps more
commonly should be dispensed with, as the subject itself
will often suggest an order to the preacher, and one that
can quite readily be perceived by the mind of the hearer
without the formality of a regular division.

(3.) To come now to the substance of the discourse ; its
distinctive aim and character, we should ever remember, is
exposition; so that to explain the meaning of the words
where any explanation is needed, to render clear and intel-
ligible to all the mind of the Spirit conveyed in them, to
explicate difficulties, and bring out with due prominence
the principles of truth and duty involved, this must be taken
as the more direct and primary object of the discourse. To
do it properly will, of course, require some measure of
exegetical talent, by which I mean, such a combination of
taste and judgment as fits one for discerning the right in
cases somewhat critical, weighing probabilities, tracing con-

24^ THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

nections, distinguishing between what is extraneous or inci-
dental and what is essential to the train of thought which
forms the leading theme of discourse. Not the process
itself, by which all this is to be done, should be laid open
in the discourse, but the results of the process ; the talent
should appear in the work it accomplishes, not in the
methods by which it operates. Anything like an exhibition
of skill or a parade of learning must be out of place in a
discourse which is professedly directed to the object of
expounding the will of God for the spiritual enlightenment
and comfort of men's souls. Even in the treatment of
passages which have some difficulty in them, on which a
certain diversity of opinion has prevailed in the past, and
may still perhaps be expected to prevail in the future, it is
hardly ever advisable to go much into the contending views
of interpreters, which is extremely apt to create bewilder-
ment in thie minds of a general audience, and possibly also
to produce a painful sense of the darkness and uncertainty
of Scripture. It is an easy method of consuming time and
of giving an air of learning to a discourse, to tell what this
commentator has said, and how the conceit of that other
may be disposed of. But for the most part it is a far more
excellent way, and greatly more serviceable to the flock,
when the pastor takes time and pains in his own study to
examine and weigh all these competing authorities; and
though, perhaps, not concealing the fact that there are
certain difficulties or diversities of opinion hanging around
the subject, yet coming forth with a plain and intelligent
exhibition of what has commended itself to him as the
mind of the Spirit regarding it. If, after all his care and
application, he should still find reason for hesitation,' let
him state candidly whence it arises ; or if there should be
more than one view which may justly be considered as
somewhat probable, let this also be noticed. But such
double interpretations should obviously be presented as

DIFFERENT KINDS OF DISCOURSES. 249

rarely as possible ; and with due pains beforehand, suppos-
ing that there is some fitness for the work with a few of
the better exegetical helps at hand, and prayer continually
made for a blessing on their use, they cannot be of very
frequent occurrence. It is a good rule to mention no view
from the pulpit which may not reasonably be supposed to
have occurred, in their own meditations or reading, to some
members of the congregation ; to mention none simply for
the sake of propounding and refuting it Should, however,
an incorrect view, however absurd, be understood to have
gained currency, or should it be not unlikely to have
occurred to some one on a superficial. consideration of the
passage, then it may most justly be noticed. At the same
time, the clear and satisfactory exhibition of the true sense
will commonly be found the best safeguard against false and
shallow interpretations, and when thoroughly done will save
the necessity of spending much time on what is only to be
rejected.

In a number of cases in which some difficulty has to be
encountered, the difficulty turns upon the precise meaning
of the original words, and raises the question, whether the
rendering of the Authorized Version gives a correct view of
their import. If the matter is very clear as against this
version, and anything of importance depends on the differ-
ence; or if by some slight variation a fiiller, clearer, or more
profound meaning could be elicited, in such cases there can
be no impropriety in indicating what is entitled to the pre-
ference. Only, a certain prudence should be observed as
to the manner of doing it, avoiding the appearance of seem-
ing anxious to obtrude a piece of learning somewhat out of
the way, but being concerned only about bringing out a just
representation of the truth of sacred Scripture. The middle
way here also is the best; on the one hand, to guard against
the undue disparagement of the version, which to the great
body of the people is the only form in which they know the

250 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

word of God ; and, on the other, to keep them in mind that
it is still but a version, and must not be allowed to over-
shadow the original.^

(4.) In regard, finally, to the hortatory, or more peculiarly
practical matter of the discourse, this should nearly always
form a pretty large portion of the whole, but it may be
variously introduced. When the subject happens to be one
that calls for a good deal of explanation, or consists of parts
very closely related to each other, it may be best to reserve
the chief application to be made of it for practical uses to
the last When the whole subject has been placed before
the understandings of the people, then press home the
lessons of duty it contains on their hearts and consciences.
But usually it will be foimd both more natural and more
profitable to interweave the practical throughout with the
expository, and make the improvement of the subject keep
pace with its elucidation. For in this way the hearers have
the subject as it proceeds brought into contact with the
moral as well as the intellectual parts of their natures, and
are never allowed to forget the aim to which all should be
subordinated. Not only so, but the awkwardness is thereby
avoided of needing to return back upon topics which have
been discussed at an earlier stage, and have not quite
recently been engaging attention. When this has to be
done, a certain amount of repetition is inevitable, and this
is apt to induce satiety or languor in the audience, On
every account, therefore, it is advisable to intermingle the
word of exhortation with the word of knowledge, while still
the most prolonged or urgent of the practical appeals may
fitly be reserved to the close,

^ There are certain renderings fitted to mislead which should certainly
be noted, such as * straining at a gnat ;* 'eating and drinking damnation ;*
* after Easter,' Acts xii. 4; * called to glory and virtue,* 2 Pet. i. 6; also
the changes undergone in the sense of certain words, such as * earing,*
conversation^ nephews^ take no thought.

DIFFERENT KINDS OF DISCOURSES. 25 1

II. Doctrinal Discourses, — By doctrinal discourses I mean
such as have it for their more prominent and leading object
to set forth some important truth or doctrine of the Bible,
to commend it to men*s intelligent convictions, and work it
into their settled and conscientious belief. As Christianity
owes its primary distinction to the doctrinal truths which it
unfolds, and by the belief of those truths seeks to accom-
plish all the present and eternal results it aims at, a very
prominent and essential part of the calling of a minister of
the gospel necessarily consists in what he has to do for the
manifestation and defence of the same. The exposition in
one aspect or another of saving truth must form the staple
of his ministrations. But the precise form under which this
is to be done may be infinitely varied, and must to a certain
extent be modified by the circumstances of time and place.
Even in the cast and structure of discourses which may, in
a somewhat peculiar sense, be designated doctrinal, there
may be a considerable variety ; and, in particular, they may
be made to assume sometimes more of a controversial and
again more of a simply didactic character, according as the
special object may be to vindicate and defend, or to explain
and enforce the truth. It will rarely happen but that the
faithful pastor will require to avail himself of the one mode
as well as the other ; for in present times at least he will
scarcely find it possible to obtain a field of labour where the
prevalence of doctrinal error, or the danger of some being
misled into it, will not occasionally call for a defence as
well as exposition of the truth. At the same time, even in
those situations where the danger in question exists, dis-
courses avowedly and predominantly controversial should
not be of fi^equent occurrence ; indeed, I would say, they
should form rather an exceptional part of a pastor's public
ministrations. For, as they necessarily present a polemical
appearance, their tendency is to beget an intellectual sharp-
ness and combative zeal for orthodoxy, much more than to

25 2f THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

awaken earnest convictions and hearty love of the truth.
And it should ever be remembered, that it is this latter and
not the former, it is the doctrines of salvation, not simply
as reasoned out and grasped by the intellect, but as em-
braced and loved in the heart, which alone fulfils the design
of the gospel, and is also the only sufficient bulwark against
the assaults of error. For the things of this description
which prove real sources of danger are always such as fall
in with some corrupt tendency of human nature, flatter its
pride of reason, or allow freer scope to its fleshly inclina-
tions and desires. Hence the faithful pastor must aim at
something more than a mere speculative knowledge of the
truth. He must seek to have the truth itself effectually
lodged in the understandings and hearts of his audience ;
since, in proportion as this is done, the antagopistic
forms of error will of themselves fall away or meet with
a stout resistance. Keeping in view what has been said
as to the general character and object of this species of
discourses, I proceed to offer a few plain hints respecting
them.

(i.) Whatever the particular doctrine may be which is to
form the theme of discourse, care should be taken to have
a text that is sufficiently clear and broad to bear the super-
structure which is going to be reared on it There should
be no appearance of constraint or violence in the effort to
adapt the one to the other, as this would inevitably, raise
distrust or suspicion at the very outset The doctrine, it is
true, may not be treated as if it rested for proof exclusively
or even mainly upon the particular text from which the
sermon is preached. There both may and should be a
judicious use of other passages bearing on the subject intro-
duced in the course of the discussion. But this will not
lessen the propriety of having an appropriate text for the
groundwork of the whole ; for whatever afterwards may be
brought forward by way of supplementing it in the minds of

DIFFERENT KINDS OF DISCOURSES. 253

the audience, it will almost certainly be with the text itself
that the doctrine will be chiefly associated.

(2.) Some discrimination also should be made between
doctrines, not for the purpose of exempting any from dis-
cussion in the pulpit which have a place in the revelation of
God, for it is the part of a minister to declare the whole
counsel of God ; but so as to give the chief prominence to
those which are most vitally connected with the work of
salvation and men's spiritual progress. There are doctrines
which may at particular times be brought formally into dis-
cussion, but which usually should be taken for granted
rather than systematically and at length treated in the
pulpit ; such, for example, as the doctrine of the Trinity,
the doctrine of angels, or the doctrine of divine predestina-
tion. Many Qpportunities will present themselves in the
regular course of exposition or preaching for referring to
such topics, and bringing forth proofs in illustration of them,
in a kind of informal and incidental manner. But it is
scarcely possible to take them for the theme of an entire
discourse without giving to the discourse somewhat more
than is meet of a dry, theological, perhaps speculative turn.
When such topics are handled, it should be as much as pos-
sible after the pattern of Scripture, that is, not abstractedly
or metaphysically, but by means of known analogies, and in
their bearing on the scheme of God and the spiritu^ well-
being of men. So contemplated, they will be presented in
a sort of concrete form, associated with what has an objec-
tive existence in men's experience, and runs more or less
into the lines of their present or future destiny. Take, as
an example, the doctrine of election as exhibited in Scripture,
which is not as a thing swimming in the air, but intimately
associated with the safety and blessedness of believers, '
tending on the one side to humble them, as showing that
they are indebted for all they receive to the sovereign good-
ness and mercy of God ; and on the other to fill them with

254 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

peace and comfort, as presenting whatever belongs to them
of good in connection with the everlasting love and unchang-
ing faithfulness of God. Thus exhibited, the doctrine will
be received by believers with a heavenly sweetness and
consolation ; while those who are stiU strangers to the grace
of God may have the salutary feeling awakened in them,
that it were a happy thing for them if they could but attain
to some comfortable assurance that they had personally to
do with the things which pertain to it Until they get into
that better position, however, and with the Tiew of helping
them to do so, such persons should be reminded that they
have primarily to address themselves to another class of
God's revelations, those, namely, which have respect to the
guilt of sin, and the necessity of fleeing to Christ in order to
escape from its deserved doom.

Indeed, both for the subjects of grace and for those who
are still strangers to its power, the great themes of doctrinal
preaching must be, not the darker, but the plainer things in
God's revelation, the reality, the deceitfulness, and the evil
of sin; the way of salvation by Christ, Christ Himself in His
adorable person, and perfect righteousness, and infinite
satisfaction ; His amazing condescension. His matchless
love, the inexhaustible riches of His grace, the comforts of
His Spirit, and the glory of His kingdom. Whatever
besides may at times be exhibited of Christian doctrine,
such topics ought ever to occupy the foreground ; for they
have the more fundamental place in the elements of the
Christian economy, and they serve to keep the soul ever
conversant with Christ, in connection with whom alone is
to be found true peace and blessing.

(3.) I remark again, that in setting forth such topics as
those now referred to, the utmost pains should be taken to
have the leading positions laid down regarding them, what
will usually be the heads of discourse enunciated in very
clear and intelligible statements, such as every person in

DIFFERENT KINDS OF DISCOURSES. 255

the congregation of ordinary intelligence can understand.
The main part also of what is said in illustration should, if
possible, be done in so lucid and orderly a manner, that
only the wilfully ignorant and inattentive can fail to appre-
hend it This, when it is in some good measure done, will
save a great deal of needless verbiage and prolonged argu-
mentation on points of some difficulty; for, as has been
truly said, * a question well stated is half solved.' But it
can be so stated only when one has been at pains to get
the particular subject clearly apprehended in the mind,
and in the exposition of it to confine oneself to what has
thus been properly mastered. Should the preacher attempt
more than this, or be imperfectly prepared for what he does
attempt, there will be sure to be found an indistinctness, a
want of order or coherence, in his statements concerning it;
his course will be, as it were, through a hazy atmosphere or
with a halting and uncertain tread, in which comparatively
few are likely to attempt following him. To know well,
and to know also what it is one does know well, is indispens-
able to being able to discourse on it to the interest and
edification of others.

(4.) Along with this distinctness and precision of view,
there will always be required, as a further element to success
in this kind of discourse, a real heartfelt sense of the im-
portance of the doctrine handled, and a corresponding
desire to have the knowledge and belief of it wrought into
the minds of others. To a shortcoming in this respect,
perhaps more than to an actual deficiency in the formal
apprehension of the truth, is to be ascribed the defective
interest that too frequently attaches to such discourses.
For the complaint which has been uttered on the subject
by an English prelate, has its application to other sections
of the Church: ^ * How many sermons,* says he, 'seem to be

^ Addresses to Candidates for Ordination, by the Bishop of Oxford,
p. 54.

256 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

composed with no better idea than that they must occupy a
certain time prescribed by custom, and that they must be
filled with the religious phrases current in this or that school
of theological opinion ! Hence we find in them prefaces of
inordinate length, porches larger than the buildings to which
they lead, truisms repeated with a calm perseverance of dull
repetition which is almost marvellous, vague generalities
about the fall and redemption, as if these awful m)rsteries
were empty words, and not living, burning realities. We
hear the sermon, perhaps wandering languidly over the
whole scheme of theology ; or we find the faintest and most
general description of sinners, such as can reach no one in
particular ; mere outlines of men in the abstract, not por-
traits of individual men, amongst which each hearer shall
find himself; empty general exhortations not to sin, not
revelations of sin in itself, or sin in its deceitful working ;
cold, heartless, unreal words about Christ the healer, not
the earnest, plain-spoken zeal of one to whom, because he
believes, Christ is preciqus.' All this, so far as it exists,
comes from the want of a realizing sense in the preacher of
the vital importance of the truths about which he discourses.
He must go through his task, but there is no living warmth
and energy in his mode of executing it ; and the impression
produced, faint at the first, soon vanishes away.

(5.) In regard, finally, to the practical improvement con-
nected with the treatment of doctrinal subjects, this may, as
in the case of expository discourses, be managed in two
different ways. It may either be interspersed through the
several parts of the discourse, or reserved mainly to the
concluding portion. In Scripture itself we have examples
of both these methods. The two largest doctrinal epistles
or discourses in the New Testament are those addressed to
the Romans and the Hebrews ; and they are constructed
respectively upon the two methods just mentioned. In the
Epistle to the Romans, the first part, reaching to the close

DIFFERENT KINDS OF DISCOURSES. 257

of chap. XL, is chiefly occupied with the discussion of the
great doctrines of sin and redemption ; and then, com-
mencing with chap. xii. onwards to the dose, there is a
rich and varied appUcation of the truth to the personal and
social state of beUevers ; a close and earnest dealing with
the conscience in respect to the obligations resting on be-
lievers, one toward another, and toward those around them,
in the different spheres and relations of life. In the Epistle
to the Hebrews, on the other hand, each doctrinal topic,
as it comes into consideration, has its practical bearing
noticed and pressed home before it is dismissed ; so that,
throughout, the argumentative continually runs into the
hortatory, and successive phases of doctrine are no sooner
commended to the apprehension and faith of the readers,
than they are turned into matter of counsel, warning, or
encouragement to their hearts. With such examples of
these diverse methods from the pen of inspiration itself, we
may certainly leave the question undecided, which is the
better of the two. Rather, perhaps, we may say that both
are in themselves good; and that it will be the part of
wisdom in the preacher to vary his plan, and make his
discourse assume now more of the one, and again more of
the other method. For the most part, however, it will be
the more advisable, for the reasons already stated under
the preceding division, to approximate more nearly to the
second mode of distribution than to the first For, if all is
doctrinal in the earlier part of a discourse, and all practical
in the later, it will probably seem to a certain portion of
the audience allowable to relax their attention while the
one or the other portion of the discourse is in progress of
delivery. But, indeed, the two elements admit of being in
a good degree combined together, as they are in the Epistle
to the Romans ; for, while the chief burden of the practical
matter is reserved to the concluding chapters of the epistle,
it is by no means wanting in the earlier portions. Nay,.

R

2S8 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

some of the most powerful and touching appeals are there ;
and the whole of that part which is more especially doc-
trinal, so far from possessing the character of a dry discus-
sion, is instinct with the living warmth and earnestness of a
soul penetrated to its inmost depths with the reality and
greatness of the truths unfolded in it. When such is the
spirit that characterizes the treatment of any particular
subject, it will be comparatively of little moment how
the more distinctly practical matter i$ introduced and
distributed.

III. Experimental Discourses, — Experimental preaching
may justly enough be treated as a distinct class, although
in the general run of pulpit discourses the experimental
element should not be wanting, and should rather appear in
the tone and spirit pervading the whole, than as something
existing apart. The revelation of God generally, and that
part of it in particular which relates to the life and resurrec-
tion of Christ, with the present and eternal issues depending
on them, cannot but powerfully affect, when seriously ap-
prehended by men, their emotional natures, and deeply
impress their feelings. To its wonderful adaptation in this
respect the gospel owes much of its quickening and im
pulsive power. And the measure of the skill which any
preacher possesses to awaken feeling along with believing
thought in the minds of his audience, in connection with
the great themes he handles, will also be, to a large extent,
the measure of his success in getting into their bosoms, and
winning them to the love and obedience of the truth.

There are subjects of discourse, however, which are in
their very nature experimental, and which should froiri
time to time be brought out for formal discussion. Such,
for example, is the passage in Rom. vii. 9, 'I was alive
without the law once ; but when the commandment came,
sin revived, and I died,' which, in both its parts, relates to

DIFFERENT KINDS OF DISCOURSES. 259

experience ; in the first, to the souFs consciousness, its con-
ceit, we should rather say, or false consciousness of life,
while still ignorant of the spirituality and depth of the law's
requirements ; in the second, to its consciousness of death,
its stricken and prostrate condition, with an overpowering
sense of guilt and danger when the law enters in its true
meaning and commanding power. Such also, but with
special reference to the grace and truth of the gospel, are
Rom. viiL 15, 'Ye have not received the spirit of bondage
again to fear,' etc; 2 Tim. i. 12, 'I know whom I have
believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I
have committed to Him against that day;* 2 Cor. v. 14,
* The love of Christ constraineth me,' etc. Texts like these
necessarily carry the thoughts inward to the state of the
heart and the working of its affections, as wrought upon by
the great truths and realities of the gospel. And if they are
handled in a lively and earnest manner, the discourse must
possess much of an experimental character; it will not
simply describe how the things in question should operate
on the feelings and affections of the soul, but so do it as to
awaken and call forth somewhat of a corresponding frame
of mind in the hearers. Can this be done unless the
preacher himself has undergone what he describes ? Can
he preach experimentally without being a man of Christian
experience ? Or should his own experience be the measure
and limit of what he attempts to work through Scripture into
the convictions and feelings of his people ?

Preachers require here to walk softly, and with a prudent
step. It is one thing to set before a Christian audience a
sort of picture, an ideal representation of the manner in
which they should desire and feel on spiritual things, but
another thing to make them properly sensible of the charac-
teristics of a gracious work, to give them to know these as
things which have been known in their real character, appre-
ciated and felt Yet there is nothing more common than.

26o THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

for preachers, young preachers more especially, to mistake
the one for the other, or to think that they are accomplish-
ing the one when they are only doing the other. It were,
perhaps, too much to say that no effect of a salutary and
permanent kind is likely to be ever produced by a discourse
in which the work of grace upon the soul and the actings of
the soul as operated on by grace, have been drawn from the
imagination merely of the speaker, or taken at second hand
from the testimony of others ; but assuredly very little of
that description will usually be found to come of it Grace,
like nature, has its own look, its own tones, its own veins
of thought and feeling ; and discourses which, without any
true or adequate participation of these, profess to lay open
the secrets of the divine life in the soul, will be felt to be
unsatisfactory by those who know the reality of that life,
and will fail even to make much impression upon others.
My advice, therefore, in regard to such subjects of discourse
is. Let each one first try to ascertain what is^his own spiri-
tual state and temper in relation to them ; let him, for the
most part, be sure that he has at least the elements in him-
self of the gracious feelings and dispositions which he means
to exhibit for the spiritual instruction and comfort of others ;
and if at times he should be led to go somewhat beyond
what he has himself experienced, not, perhaps, having been
placed in the circumstances which are needed to bring it
into full operation, let it be done discreetiy, and on the
ground of results and testimonies which admit of no reason-
able doubt. Where more than this is attempted, where at
least the attempt is systematically made to strike a higher
key, one of two results is almost sure to become manifest :
either the preacher will fall into the style of some particular
person or party, adopting a sanctimonious mannerism,
which is always a defect and a misfortune ; or his preach-
ing will betray a false glow, a kind of pretentious unreality,
will indeed be a preaching about the things of God rather

DIFFERENT KINDS OF DISCOURSES. 261

than an actual and earnest grappling with the things them-
selves.

One point more may be noticed which has respect to
the matter itself of such discourses, the subject, namely, of
Christian experience. In so far as this is really the opera-
tion of divine grace, it must, as to all essential features, be
the same in the true children of God ; for it is the work of
one and the same Spirit, and the work of that Spirit in
applying the same great truths to the conscience, awakening
the same convictions, desires, and hopes in the heart But
along with this general resemblance there may be individual
characteristics ; there certainly will be such in proportion as
there are what the apostle calls * diversities of operations '
in the Spirit's work, as well as varieties of gifts. This arises
primarily from the natural diversity which exists in people's
physical and mental temperaments, since here also the
supernatural bases itself on the natural ; and the manifold
diversities also of place, and circumstance, and position in
life, amid which, in different individuals, the work of grace
is begun and carried forward, cannot fail to exercise a
moulding influence on the particular hue and aspect of the
religious character. Thus, while it is true of all who have
really been bom again of the Spirit, that they have been
brought to know for themselves the fearful burden of sin,
and have seen somewhat of its exceeding sinfulness, with
persons of deep sensibility or sombre feeling there may
justly be expected a greater perturbation of spirit than in
others during such convictions, and at times even a tendency
to sink into the depths of wretchedness and despair. A
similar difference in respect to natural temperament or in-
tellectual acuteness will also -give rise to a corresponding
difference in the measure of distinctness with which the
successive stages of thought and feeling are marked in the
spiritual history of individuals, which in some will be found
more vivid and perceptible than in others ; in some, again,

262 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

more rapid and violent, in others more gradual and progres-
sive. Preachers should therefore beware of representing
the experiences belonging to the Christian life in such a
manner as to give rise to the impression that not only every
feature, but every line, as it were, of that feature, every shade
and aspect of life which has developed itself in one Christian,
must have its parallel in another. Besides, it is to be borne
in mind that a distinction has often to be drawn between
the experience of Christians and Christian experience. What-
ever may justiy be designated Christian experience is of the
working of God's word and Spirit upon the heart But in
the actual experience of Christians there is often found inter-
mingling with that workings of the flesh, fears and hopes,
joys and sorrows, and in these again heights and depths,
which are either altogether the offspring of peculiarities in
men's natural constitution, or receive their distinctive dolour
from these, together, it may be, with certain discomposing
influences derived from the circumstances of their condition.
The holiest men are not free from the action of such merely
physical or local influences on the atmosphere of their soul ;
as may be seen, for example, in the case of Brainerd, whose
memoirs exhibit a great deal of what may justly be called
unhealthy experience ; the experience, no doubt, of a pro-
foundly earnest, spiritual man, and an experience conversant
throughout with the things of the Spirit, but still by no means
a uniformly Christian experience, in many respects morbid
and introverted, and, as a whole, reflecting too much the
shady aspect of the law, too little of the genial warmth and
gladsome light of the gospel It was the natural conse-
quence of his consumptive frame and sequestered position,
with which he had to maintain a perpetual conflict of feeling,
and should therefore be carefully distinguished from that
profound lowliness of spirit, that sure and stedfast faith, self-
sacrificing zeal, unwearied patience, heavenly elevation of
soul, and burning desire for the glory of God, which were

DIFFERENT KINDS OF DISCOURSES. 263

his grand characteristics as a missionary of the cross, and
which have been rarely surpassed, seldom even equalled.
And so as regards the case of many others.

I may add, however, that even in those cases which ex-
hibit something peculiar, and require to be considered apart
from the general run of Christian experiences, there still is a
certain affinity with what others are conscious of; and if the
descriptions given of such are drawn from real life, they will
not be in vain even for those who are very partially cognisant
of the things described. Hence the importance in this
connection also of a minister's familiar intercourse with his
people, so as to become properly acquainted with their
actual state and character, tiieir misgivings and fears, their
trials and perils and difficulties. He will thus be able to
speak more directly to their bosoms ; and even when, per-
haps, speaking with a view to what may seem applicable to
only one or two individuals, he will touch the hearts of a
considerable number. For, as justly remarked by a German
pastor,^ and by him gathered as the result of ministerial
experience, ' he who hits the case of one hits the case of a
class ; and, besides, whatever has the impress of truth and
reality will interest even those who are not directiy concerned
in it'

IV. Ethical Discourses. — In mentioning ethical discourses,
I am not to be understood as meaning what are simply or
absolutely such ; but discourses which have for their chief
object the exhibition of some one of the moral obligations
binding on Christians, and the duties of every-day life.
Every discourse, as already stated, should have more or less
of a bearing in this direction ; it should be pervaded by a
perceptible moral element, and at certain points should
touch upon the things proper to be done, even though
mainly occupied with those which are to be believed. But
1 Btichsel's Ministerial Experiences^ p. 37.

264 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTUN PASTOR.

it will also be wise, occasionally at least, to discourse on
particular branches of the dutiful behaviour and moral ex-
cellence which ought to distinguish the members of a
Christian community, and to awaken a sense of shortcoming
and guilt, where the good is not sought after or realized.

I. Now, in regard to such discourses, the first and most
important direction which has to be given is, that while the
moral or spiritual element must be made to predominate,
it should never be allowed to stand alone. Precisely as
doctrine should ever be set forth in its relation to practice,
so. when practice is the more immediate theme, its relation
to doctrine should never be lost sight of; and that more
especially for two. reasons. First, because the moral pre-
cepts and obligations which believers are called to dis-
charge, have much in their nature, and still more in their
spirit, to do with the revelations of the gospel ; and it is
impossible to give, in connection with any department of
Christian life and behaviour, a full representation of what
believers should actually do, without bringing the subject
into contact with the realities of the gospel. For, since the
revelation of these has greatly elevated the position of those
to whom the gospel has come, has placed them amid a
clearer light, and invested them with other privileges and
prospects than they could have known while living in a
state of nature, so it has immensely increased their obliga-
tions to follow after righteousness, and provided them with
means altogether peculiar for understanding the real nature
and claims of righteousness. There is, however, another,
and, if possible, a still stronger reason; for faith in the
blessed truths of the gospel is the only vital root of the
practical goodness which we would have people to exhibit
in their walk and conduct ; and one might as well expect
to find fruitful trees growing where there has been planted
no living germ, as to see a community adorned with
the virtues of a pure, upright, and heavenly behaviour,

DIFFERENT KINDS OF DISCOURSES. 265

apart from the believing reception of the truth as it is in
Jesus.

In the present day it is scarcely necessary to give any
Special illustrations of this, as with all who are in any
measure acquainted with the history of religion in this
country it has passed into a generally received maxim. It
is well, however, that the piasters, or such as are preparing
to become pastors, of Christian congregations should re-
member some of the more striking proofs of it, which are
known to have taken place in the past, that they may be
saved even from the/jr/wj/misjudgments and misdirected
efforts into which they might otherwise be led. In the par-
ticular sphere of a single ministerial life, none perhaps can
be found more marked and instructive than that of the case
of Dr. Chalmers, especially as he himself has depicted it.
Shortly after his removal from Kilmany to Glasgow, he pub-
lished an address to his former parishioners ; and in that
address he referred to the change which had taken place on
the character of his ministrations during the period of his
residence in Kilmany, describing also the effect which this
personal change produced on the results of his pastorate.
* I am not sensible,' he said, * that all the vehemence with
which I urged the proprieties and virtues of social life had
the weight of a feather on the moral habits of my parish-
ioners. And it was not till I got impressed by the utter
alienation of the heart in all its desires and affections from
God ; it was not till I got the Scriptural way of laying the
method of reconciliation before them ; it was not till the
free offer of forgiveness through the blood of Christ was
urged upon their acceptance, and the Holy Spirit given
through Christ's Mediatorship to all who ask Him, that I
ever heard of any of those subordinate reformations, which
I aforetime made the earnest and the zealous, but, I am
afraid, at the same time the ultimate object of my earlier
ministrations.' Then, appealing to those who had latterly

266 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

Undergone a change corresponding to his own, and in con-
sequence of it, he says, * You have at least taught me, that
to preach Christ is the only effective way of preaching
morality in all its branches ; and out of your humble cot-*
tages have I gathered a lesson, which I pray God I may be
enabled to carry with all its simplicity into a wider theatre,
and to bring to bear with all the power of its subduing
efficacy upon the vices of a more crowded population.*

Substantially the same contrast, but with reference to a
much wider sphere, was drawn by Bishop Horsley in one of
his charges, in which he gave a severe but faithful delinea-
tion of the kind of preaching which was prevalent among
the clergy of the Church of England during the latter part
of last century, contrasting it with the proper idea of gospel
preaching. * The clergy of those days,' he said, * had lost
sight of their proper office, to publish the word of recon-
ciliation ; and made no other use of the high commission
they bore, than to come abroad on one day in seven
dressed in solemn looks, and in the external garb of holi-
ness, to be the apes of Epictetus. A general decay, not
merely of piety, but of all the fruits and excellences of a
Christian hfe, was the natural consequence ;' and therefore
he fitly concludes by indicating the right path : ' Practical
holiness is the end, faith is the means. The practice of
religion will always thrive in proportion as its doctrines are
understood and firmly received ; and the practice will
degenerate and decay in proportion as the doctrine is
misunderstood and neglected.* ^

This, however, may quite readily be admitted by persons
in the present day, who yet, perhaps, are in danger of giving

^ On the negative side, practical illustrations of this may be found in
the fruitlessness of Societies for the Reformation of Manners formed
during last century (see Gillies* Historical Collections), as compared
with the results of evangelical preaching by Whitfield, Wesley, and
others.

DIFFERENT KINDS OF DISCOURSES. 26 J

way to the same tendency in a somewhat modified and
subtler form. There is a kind of refined morality and
spiritualism, which partakes to some extent of a Christian
character, and is all that certain ministers either know or
preach; but which, as a scheme of instruction, wants the living
warmth and quickening influence of true evangelism. A
more favourable and instructive example of it could not well
be found, than in the amiable and very estimable Henry
Woodward, an Irish clergyman, not long since deceased,
who himself relates the phase of things connected with his
ministerial position and agency to which I refer. He had
gone through a very remarkable, one might almost say,
singular experience, several years after he became an
ordained minister, the chief characteristic of which was an
intense realization of spiritual and eternal things, which
changed the whole tone of his mind, and rendered mini-
sterial work a very different thing from what it had been
before, yet without any special prominence being given to
the subjects of sin and salvation. Before long, he removed
to a neighbourhood where were some men of distinguished
parts and good character in the Church, * whose agency
tended to promote spiritual religion, with disconformity to
the world; but upon the subject of the atonement there
was somewhat of reserve. It was not denied, it was held as
a part of Catholic truth ; it was occasionally preached, but
it was not prominently put forward.' Falling in with this
system of thought and teaching, Mr. Woodward says of
himself, * My favourite topics from the pulpit, and from
house to house, were such as, from my own experience, I
could set my seal to : that sin is misery, and holiness is but
another name for happiness ; that the ways of religion are
ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace ; that God
is Himself the shield and the exceeding great reward of
them that love Him ; that Christ is the living bread which
alone can feed the hungry soul,* and so on. * He did not

268 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

absolutely omit,' he says, * to preach forgiveness through
the blood of Jesus, and justification by faith in His right-
eousness ; but this doctrine had not the prominence which
is understood to characterize evangelical preaching ; and it
was only when he came to perceive the far more marked
and blessed effects which flowed from preaching more dis-
tinctively evangelical, that he began seriously to consider
the defects of his own, and gave that prominence to the
doctrines of sin and salvation which they unquestionably
have in Scripture. I saw,* he states, 'that God was pleased
to bless this mode of preaching;' and He does so, we must
remember, just because it thoroughly meets the case of
sinners, and, -with the knowledge of the good, supplies the
only effectual means and motives for their actually at-
taining it.

2. But to proceed to another point : while the moralities
of the gospel in discourses of this nature should ever be
based upon its beliefs, in the mode of doing it some variety
is advisable, so as to avoid a tame and mechanical imi-
formity. Suppose, for example, that humility were the subj ect
of discourse, and the text i Pet. v. 5, * Be subject one to
another, and be clothed with humility,' it might be equally
appropriate to begin with a delineation of the grace of
humility, its thoughts and feelings with reference to self,
its actings toward God, its outgoings of will and purpose
towards others amid tlie intercourse and relations of life ;
and then to point to the spiritual root out of which it springs,
and the manifold considerations presented in the gospel
which are fitted to nourish and stimulate it. Or, reversing
the process, bring forward first what grounds or reasons
there are in Scripture, as well as in the nature of things, for
the cultivation of a spirit of humility, and then show how,
when these are properly apprehended and felt, they will of
necessity prompt to the exercise of humility, dispose the
believer, as it were, to clothe himself with it, so that it shall

DIFFERENT KINDS OF DISCOURSES. 269

impart a distinctive tone and impress to whatever he does.
In like manner, with regard to all the other graces of the
Christian life, and the duties of moral obligation, it is imma-
terial whether the discussion of the duties or the exhibition
of the truths and principles which should find their develop-
ment in the duties have the precedence in the discourse ;
and not stringent uniformity, but rather variety of order and
method is to be cultivated.

3. A still further direction may be indicated, namely,
that care should be taken so to exhibit the moralities, or
practical duties of the gospel, that these shall appear really
practicable to the body of sound Christians. Representa-
tions are sometimes given of these, and of the obligations
generally of a Christian life, which look too much like ideal
pictures, and which, from want of adaptation to people's
circumstances, are fitted rather to discourage than prompt
their zeal to the performance of what is required. * Our
system of preaching,' Mr. Cecil justly observes, 'must be
such as to meet mankind. They must find \\. possible to live
in the bustle of the world and yet serve God.' And this
should lead, not only, as he suggests, to a prominent exhi-
bition of Christian privileges, and the refreshing of men's
harassed spirits with the cheering manifestation of Christ's
truth and love, but also to such a statement of the way of
holiness as shall not appear to overtax the energies of ordi-
nary men, a truthful yet homely and reasonable view of the
relative obligations and duties of life. This should especially
be attended to when pressing duties of which the formal
discharge must necessarily vary with the means and oppor-
tunities possessed, such as liberality to the poor, the expen-
diture of time and resources in the cause of Christ, the
exercises of meditation and prayer. That the genuine
Christian will always be characterized by a certain regard
to such things, we must leave no room to doubt, and a
regard that will always grow in proportion to the growth of

270 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

Christian principle in the heart But let hearers at the
same time be reminded, that they have to do with a God
who knows their frame, and sets the bounds of their
habitations ; so that while the spirit which animates all true
followers of Christ must be the same, there cannot be for each
the same formal rule and measure ; and they may be liberal
even in the highest degree, not by giving much^ but by
giving heartily according to their means, and by doing
kindly ; they may be meditative, and yet go through their
daily taskwork of bodily labour ; may be prayerful and yet
without a closet to retire to, or hours of repose which
they can consecrate to devotion. In all such cases let it
be clearly understood that the spirit of the work done or
the service rendered is the main thing, and that if the spirit
but exist in sufficient strength, it will not fail to obtain
scope for itself in appropriate forms of manifestation.

SUPPLEMENTARY METHODS OF INSTRUCTION, ETC 271

CHAPTER VI.

SUPPLEMENTARY METHODS OF INSTRUCTION. PERSONAL IN-
TERCOURSE. DEALINGS WITH SPECIAL CASES. PASTORAL
VISITATIONS. CATECHETICAL INSTRUCTION. VISITATION
OF THE SICK, THE AFFLICTED, AND DYING.

WE have dwelt at some length upon the homiletical
department of pastoral duty, because it is that
through which, when properly discharged, the pastor exercises
his most extensive influence over the understandings and
hearts of his people. Other methods of instruction, how-
ever important as accessories, must still be regarded as of
secotidary rank in relation to it. Should the regular mini-
strations of the pulpit be either undervalued, or from any
cause feebly performed, it will be impossible to compensate
for the defect by other appliances. For, even if we could thus
succeed in awakening some degree of spiritual concern, the
better tendencies would again be checked, or at least fail to
reach their proper consummation, not finding the requisite
impulse and supplies of nourishment ministered on the
Sabbath. But there is a danger also in the opposite direc-
tion, which the faithful and earnest pastor will do well to
guard against Pulpit ministrations may be too exclusively
relied on, and may in turn fail to yield the spiritual harvest
expected to be reaped from them, being left too much alone.
The divine seed, it may be, has been sown on the Lord's
day by a wise and discriminating hand ; but being cast into
so many different soils, and exposed thereafter to such
diverse influences, more fitted in many cases to mar than to

272 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

cherish and foster its future growth, nothing of solid and
permanent growth is produced. And the more gifted the
preacher is, he may only be the more apt to neglect the
minor solicitudes and agencies which are needed to secure
a better result, under the impression that when his dis-
courses appear to be so much appreciated, and to find such
attentive and serious audiences, all is done that can well be
expected of him, or is actually required for the success of
his ministry. Practically, however, such a mode of reckon-
ing will usually be found a great mistake; and whatever may
be any one's qualifications for public discourse, there are
certain things by which his efforts in that respect should
be followed up, otherwise they may prove comparatively
unavailing.

. I. Personal Intercourse, — First of all, it is of importance
that, as far as possible, a pastor should cultivate personal
intercourse with the people of his charge. By this is not
meant such intercourse as arises from the exchange of social
visits, or giving and receiving fiiendly entertainments. Things
of that description, within certain limits, are both allowable
and proper. They indicate a disposition in the pastor to be
on neighbourly terms with his flock, and to partake with
them in the common bounties of Providence and the inno-
cent refreshments of life. But they need to be very jealously
guarded, and restrained within narrow limits, otherwise they
are sure to occasion a serious waste of time, and tend also
to bring the minister in his feelings and conversation too
much down to the level of ordinary society, or to give him
too much the air and tone of a man of the world.

Diflferent firom this is the kind of personal intercourse
which is now under consideration as a department of pastoral
duty. In seeking to cultivate it, the pastor must msdce him-
self accessible to his people, and be ready to avail himself
of such opportunities as occur to draw forth their hearts

SUPPLEMENTARY METHODS OF INSTRUCTION, ETC. 273

toward him, and induce an interchange of thoughts. These,
no doubt, will very materially differ according to the nature
of the sphere he occupies, and the worldly circumstances of
his people. A good deal may often be done even in his
casual meetings with them through the week, especially if
he is himself gifted with somewhat of a natural frankness of
manner, and, along with this, has his heart so much in the
work of his sacred calling that every one knows what are the
themes most congenial to his spirit. But he may also, and
should, particularly in rural charges, cultivate acquaintance
with the members of his flock, by occasionally entering into
their dwellings, though it should be only for a few minutes,
and while his more immediate object, perhaps, is to obtain
the exercise he needs, or to transact some little piece of
business. In certain situations, where the field is extensive
and the congregation numerous, it may be a considerable
advantage both for himself and his people, on his own part
a great saving of time and labour, to appoint occasionally
times and places where he will be ready to see them indi-
vidually, and to enter into converse with them on any matters
on which they might desire to open to him their minds, or
to have his advice.

Now, when the pastor is able in one or other of such ways
to maintain personal intercourse with a considerable portion
of his people, various benefits will accrue, some of them
directly relating to himself, though on these it will be
unnecessary to dwell. But he will thereby gain much in
respect to intimacy with their state and feelings, and so be-
come more skilfiil in dealing with their spiritual interests.
His knowledge of them gets individualized; their distinctive
tendencies and characters, their relative degrees of intelli-
gence, the greater or less capacity they may have for under-
standing the import and profiting by the instruction of the
discourses he delivers to them, the special sins and tempta-
tions which they need to be warned against, the duties

274 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

which require to be most urgently pressed : these things and
others of a cognate description will get familiarized to the
mind of the pastor who takes the course indicated, with a
distinctness and particularity which will otherwise be found
unattainable. Acquiring thus a more thorough acquaintance
with their natural and spiritual characteristics, he will be able
in his various ministrations to adapt himself more exactly
and wisely to their particular cases. And while he may
certainly lay his account with having things obtruded upon
him which cause uneasiness and disappointment, he will
also meet with cheering indications, will even occasionally
light upon wells of Christian life and activity, which his own
exhibitions of the truth may have helped to open, and
which will have the effect of sending him on his way
rejoicing.

But while such advantages are not to be overlooked,
they are still inferior to those which the pastor, by such a
course, may be the means of imparting to others, and the
increased moral influence it is fitted to lend to his ministra-
tions. As he comes thereby to a more intimate knowledge
of the people of his charge, so in turn he becomes better
known to them; and being often touched through the
familiarities of personal intercourse with the proofs of his
kindliness and fellow-feeling, they will be prepared to
mingle with their respect for him as a pastor, affection and
confidence toward him as a fiiend. The distance and
reserve which the one relation naturally tends to throw
around him, will become lessened and relieved by the fi'ee
interchange of thought and feeling fostered by the other ;
and his addresses firom the pulpit will assume more the
character of a speaking firom heart to heart. They now
know that they are listening to one who really sympathizes
with them and cares for them ; one who unfeignedly seeks
their wellbeing, and delights to go out and in among them.
Besides, by such a course he greatly multiplies his oppor-

SUPPLEMENTARY METHODS OF INSTRUCTION, ETC. 275

tunities of promoting their spiritual good. Though he will
often, perhaps, find it impossible to get beneath the surface,
or to touch on other than ordinary topics, yet he will again
be able, if himself thoroughly in earnest, to direct the con-
versation into higher channels, and to drop words that shall
be like good seed cast into congenial soil. Openings,
occasionally at least, will present themselves for suggesting
inquiries, tendering cautions, administering reproofs, or
giving counsels and encouragements much more special and
pointed than could well be addressed from the pulpit.
People will get courage to make known their case in times
especially of darkness or perplexity, so as to render com-
paratively easy a suitable application of the healing medicine
of the gospel This is happily noticed by Bengel : ^ 'Friendly
intercourse with our people often effects more than all the
reasons, demonstrations, and sermons in the world. The
traveller imwraps his mantle, not when the cold wind blows
strongly, but when the warming sunshine smiles. It is
better here to have a single dove flying towards us of its
own accord, than to see ever so many driven into the en-
closure. How desirable is it to get our people to feel so
easy with us, that they can ask or tell us anything with
open-heartedness and simplicity I ' He adduces, as a more
special reason, a consideration which should certainly not
be overlooked : ' Many become seriously impressed and
" pricked in their hearts" under sermons, who yet derive no
special comfort from the word of grace till it is communi-
cated to them in private conversation. Therefore, visiting
those committed to his charge should be considered by the
Christian minister to be anything but a light matter, for he
can often do much more good by his private visits than by
his public testimony. He should therefore let his people
see that he is always willing and ready to attend privately
upon any and every one of them.*

^ Life^ by Burk, p. 127.

276 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

All this, of course, implies a certain unbending on the
part of the minister, a frankness and geniality of manner
easily distinguished from a politic or forced condescension.
Like other personal characteristics, it may exist in very
different degrees even in godly ministers, but is also suscep-
tible of great improvement in those who are anxious to
cultivate what they have. It implies, too, that the pastor
shall not be content with merely speaking to men in the
mass, but shall care for them individually, a matter often
too little regarded by men otherwise distinguished for their
ministerial gifts. * As fishers of men, they are too exclu-
sively bent,' Mr. James of Birmingham remarks,^ * on casting
their net among a shoal, and dmwing many at one throw,
and are not given enough to patiently angling for the soli-
tary fish. Single souls are thought, if not beneath our
notice, yet below our zeal. Have we forgotten our great
Pattern, who sat for a whole hour, perhaps, or even more,
on the side of a well, and laboured kindly and condescend-
ingly for the salvation of one individual, and that a female
of indifferent character ? Or may we not receive instruction
from the parable of the lost sheep, upon perceiving the
solicitude and the toil of the good Shepherd to restore the
solitary wanderer to the fold? Or let us learn from the
conduct of the blessed angels, who rejoice over one sinner
that repenteth. It is this anxiety,' he adds, * for the conver-
sion of single souls by conversation in private more than
the ardour of the pulpit that tests the sincerity of our con-
cern and the purity of our motives. Many things apart
from the higher objects of pulpit ministration concur to
excite our zeal in public ; only one, and that of a right kind,
can be supposed to operate in private.' There is, undoubt-
edly, much truth in this representation ; and very few pastors
who have been long in the ministry will be able to reflect
on it without painful and humbling recollections.
* Introduction to Spencer's Sketches, p. xlv.

SUPPLEMENTARY METHODS OF INSTRUCTION, ETC. 277

It is not unimportant to notice, however, that the same
esteemed and earnest minister, in his anxiety to get more
into this individual mode of dealing with his people, and
deepening on particular minds the impressions which may
have been made upon them by the services of the sanctuary,
fell upon a plan in the latter years of his ministry which was
attended with considerable success, and which doubtless, at
particular seasons, has often in substance been adopted
elsewhere. The plan was this : He made very special pre-
paration for his pulpit services on one, or perhaps two
Sabbaths, with the view of awakening in the minds of his
congregation a deep and solemn concern for salvation, and
then gave intimation at the close that, on a particular even-
ing shortly after, he would be at the vestry or schoolroom,
for the purpose of meeting any one who might have been
affected by what they had heard, or who by any means had
been brought into concern regarding the things of their
peace. He made them very distinctly to understand that
his object was not to interrogate or converse with such
persons individually, the apprehension of which, he was
sure, would have deterred many from coming, but to speak
to them and pray with them collectively. The proposal on
the first occasion of its announcement was so largely re-
sponded to, that Mr. James felt quite overpowered by the
greatness and solemnity of the scene ; and from that moment,
he says, he felt that a new view of his pastoral office had
been opened to him, and a new means of usefulness had
been put into his hands. At the evening meeting, in addi-
tion to exercises of devotion, he endeavoured to address
those present in such a manner as to deepen their feelings of
thoughtfulness and spiritual concern, also to impart to them
clear views of the way of salvation ; for which purpose he
would sometimes distribute an appropriate tracti and request
them to peruse it at leisure, while the instructions given by
himself were still fresh upon their minds. Meetings of this

278 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

sort were renewed for six or seven times in successive weeks,
when it was intimated that for the present they would cease,
and that the pastor would be ready to converse with persons
individually at certain times and places mentioned. Usually
a very considerable number availed themselves of the oppor-
tunity, and about a half of the whole were added to the
membership of the church. The plan, with little variation,
was repeated at interMals during the remainder of Mr,
James' ministry, and always with considerable success.

It should, of course, be understood that such a plan is
neither adapted to all situations, nor suited to every one's
ministerial gifts ; and wherever it is tried, the greatest care
should be taken beforehand in feeling one's way as to the
probability at least of the effort meeting with an adequate
response. It should also be understood that even where
things seem, upon the whole, favourable to the attempt
being made, the whole issue, humanly speaking, will depend
upon the spirit, the earnestness, the tact of the minister ;
and while he should never trust to these, or think for a
moment that the possession of them in the largest measure
would be of itself sufficient, still it must be through them
instrumentally that the impression in ordinary cases is to be
produced and lasting results reached. In such a line of
operations nothing of any moment can be effected unless
the chief agent in them is profoundly conscious of a desire
for the salvation of men, imless he is ready also for this end
to come into close fellowship with them, and be willing to
labour both in pains and prayer to have them brought to a
state of peace and acceptance in the Saviour. On the other
hand, there may be a danger in waiting too long for what
are supposed to be the requisite gifts and fitting oppor-
tunities ; a certain courageous boldness, in the name of the
Lord, venturing for His sake on new lines of action, may
sometimes be the truest wisdom. If one in such a spirit
but conscientiously uses what he has and does what he can,

SUPPLEMENTARY METHODS OF INSTRUCTION, ETC. 279

it may not be in vain ; and in this, as in other departments
of spiritual labour, experience will of itself bring increased
skill and fitness for the work.

fn regard to the bearing generally of what may be called
individual cases of spiritiial awakening brought under the
cognizance of the pastor on his whole work in any particular
place, it is necessary to judge cautiously ; for, though im-
portant evidences of a spiritual movement, they are not by
any means the only, or in themselves infallible, tests of its
reality and power. Various circumstances may operate in
particular localities to modify the number of such cases, and
make them relatively more or fewer than the actual work of
grace which is proceeding at the time might of itself seem
to warrant. The manners of society must here be taken
into account, which have their characteristic differences in
persons of higher and lower degree ; in the one more quiet
and self-possessed, in the other more free and demonstrative ;
whence, in times of excitement, of religious excitement as well
as excitement of any other kind, while the feelings of persons
in the humbler ranks of life will burst forth like new wine^
those of a more refined and cultivated class, though perhaps
equally strong, and even more deep and lasting, are held
under self-control, and flow on like a silent but powerfiil
current in the undergroimd of their souls. In a congrega-
tion derived mainly firom this higher class there will be
nothing like the same exhibition of emotional feeling as in
one of a different description, though the regenerating in-
fluence experienced may not be less general and pervading
in the one case than in the other. The pastor therefore
must, to a considerable extent, judge by other and less
palpable manifestations. Another element also, the com-
parative amount of religious knowledge, the measure that
is possessed of an intelligent acquaintance with the word of
God, must not be overlooked ; for this of itself, when pos-
sessed in any competent degree, renders the way of peace

28o THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

perfectly plain to such as have become really in earnest to
find it Their understandings are already full of light ; they
have but to realiee what they know, to practise what they
believe, and in many cases may find no occasion or need to
go to the pastor for special direction- or comfort. It will
naturally, however, be otherwise where people have grown
up in ignorance and neglect, estranged in great measure
from the ordinances of religion, and hence requiring to be
taught what are the first principles of the oracles of God.
Deep conviction of sin with such persons will need to be
followed up with special efforts to impart a sufficient know-
ledge of the truth as it is in Christ ; and in their case the
expressed desire to obtain what in this respect is needed,
and the progress made in acquiring it, may commonly be
taken as the evidence and measure of a truly awakened
condition. It is still further to be borne in mind, that there
are constitutional^ one may even say nationaly idiosyncrasies,
which cannot fail to discover themselves in such matters ;
and among these may certainly be reckoned a kind of
natural shyness or reserve in the Scottish mind. Taken as
a class, devout and serious Christians in Scotland are less
communicative in regard to the frames and movements of
their inner life than in most other countries, I believe it
would often be better both for themselves and others if they
revealed more of the currents of thought and feeling, the
anxieties, joys, and sorrows of which they are conscious, as
they might thus know more of the blessed communion of
saints, and in their darker moments might more readily
obtain the comfort and consolation of which they stand in
need. Yet, if there is to be excess on the one side or the
other, that which cleaves to us as a people is at least the
safer: rather grave, quiet, earnest thought about spiritual
things struggling with itself in the chambers of imagery, than
much communicativeness with a deficiency of depth and
solidity of thought And then, for the most part, hearts

SUPPLEMENTARY METHODS OF INSTRUCTION, ETC. 28 1

will one time or another open; circumstances will arise
which in a manner compel the reserve to give way, and
lead to spiritual communings, especially on the part of
genuine believers, with their pastor. And it may, perhaps,
help to reconcile him to a little delay in the matter, and
dispose him to avoid anything like undue haste or urgency,
when it is considered how often it happens that the readiest
to disclose their spiritual feelings, the most talkative about
their soul-experiences, are the most apt to yield under the
pressure of outward difficulties, and commonly the least
satisfactory in respect to consistency of character and steadi-
ness of growth in the divine life.^

II. Dealings with Special Cases, — The preceding remarks
will be misunderstood, if they are conceived to indicate a

* The following statement, made several years ago by a minister of the
Free Church, formerly of the Scottish Establishment, lends confirma-
tion in one or two points to what has just been stated : * We must not
expect from oiu: people that they shall tell us at what time and in what
way they were brought to serious thought. There is on the part of
many a dread lest their goodness should be as the morning cloud ; and
if one is to be happy only when he hears his people telling him that
such and such a sermon or address brought them to Christ, he will
assuredly be disappointed. Let me tell of the manner in which three
cases of, I hope, something better than mere improvement were brought
about The first was a farm-servant, who had been reared in a very
careless family, and whose marriage was not carried through so as to
approve itself to me. Visiting him one day, I was struck with his re-
mark, " You said there was not a more pleasant sight than to see the
labouring man sitting down on the Sabbath evening and teaching his
children the word of God ; I find it very pleasant,'* This was the first
intimation of a change. From that day the man took a new position
in the parish. He had much family affliction, which he bore with a most
submissive spirit, and his worldly circumstances have so improved that
I found him lately in possession of a small farm, and highly respected.
The second case was one of our most "well-to-do" farmers. Often
had this man been approached, but he invariably shied all close deal-

282' THE OFFICE AND DUTlfeS OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

disposition to set little by the occurrence of particular cases,
as sul)jects for more exact inquiry and specific treatment,
either to discourage the desire for them, or to account their
occasional occurrence of little moment. On the contrary,
I am persuaded it would argue ill for the character of any
Christian pastorate if such were not both expected and
found; only some discrimination should be exercised in
the matter, if men would save themselves firom needless dis-
appointments ; and a rule of judgment suitable enough for
one sphere of action should not be applied without qualifi-
cation to another materially different In almost every field
of ministerial labour, though in some greatly more than in
others, there will be found exemplifications of the truth so
beautifiilly set forth in the parable : * So is the kingdom of
God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground ; and

ings ; an ** Ay*' or a " No" was the sum of what could be got out of
him. At length, one day he asked me if I could lend him, or would
buy for him, a book of prayers, as such a thing "was a help to the like
of him. " From that day he presented a new character to the parish,
and spoke and acted as one interested in the truth. In another case,
an individual in the upper ranks of life, after having kept a thorough
silence as to the means of her change from a system of self-righteousness
to one of simple dependence on the grace of God in Christ, when ex-
pecting death, felt it would not be right to conceal the instrumentality
by which she had been brought to entertain serious views. This often
occurs. The Lord graciously keeps from His servant the knowledge of
what He is doing through him ; it may be, lest he should be unduly
exalted.' These cases are contrasted by the writer with two others,
the subjects of which were persons in the better classes of society ; one
that of a lady, who was often seen to be much impressed by public
addresses, affected even to tears ; but when laid on a sick-bed was
brought to confess that she had till then never prayed. The other was
that of a young man, who became apparently a decided convert, and
exposed himself to considerable mockery on account of the truth from
friends and relatives, but began to decline in his fidelity and zeal, and
ultimately sunk into the lowest depths of profligacy and shame. — Fr^
Church Magazine^ vol. viiL p. 347.

SUPPLEMENTARY METHODS OF INSTRUCTION, ETC. 283

should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should
spring and grow up, he knoweth not kowf^ a silent, gradual,
progressive unfolding, rendering itself distinctly manifest
only in the result

Cases will still arise, however, calling for special treat-
ment; and a good deal of a minister's usefulness and
adaptation to his particular sphere may often depend upon
his qualifications for making the treatment such as it ought
to be. They naturally fall into two classes : first, those
which have simply to be met with, the cases of persons
roused somehow to spiritual concern, or involved in doubt
and perplexity about the interests of their souls, and coming
to the pastor for comfort and direction ; and second, those
whom the pastor should endeavour to seek out, for the pur-
pose of reclaiming them firom indifference, or bringing them
to a right sense of their state and duty.

I. In regard to the former class, no great difficulty is
likely to be occasioned by them, on the supposition that
the pastor is a man of sound Scriptural knowledge, spiritual
discernment, and hearty zeal in his work. The vast majority
of cases that present themselves will be such as require at
his hands the exercise only of a sympathizing spirit, prompt-
ing him to listen with attention and interest to the details of
each ; skill in the application of the word of truth; according
to the varieties of spiritual want and danger that come
before him ; and faith, living faith, to lay hold of and press
upon the awakened and troubled conscience the promises
more especially adapted to conduct it to rest. Prayer, I
need scarcely say, should accompany all, prayer for direc-
tion how to speak, and for a blessing on what is spoken ;
prayer also at times during the conference, as well as before
or after it. Usually, the main difficulty experienced is in
respect to the persons most deeply pierced with convictions
of sin, how to get them brought into such clear views of the

* Mark iv. 26, 27.

284 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

scheme of grace, and such a realizing sense of the offered
forgiveness of the gospel, as will enable them to lay aside
their fears, and with a trustful confidence commit themselves
to the covenant faithfulness of God. The transition seems
so great from the one state to the other, that they are not
easy to be convinced of its immediate practicability. And
in the case of some, there are constitutional difficulties which
serve to aggravate the difficulty, nervous debility, melan-
cholic temperaments, dyspeptic or other bodily derange-
ments, in which material elements become strangely
intermingled with spiritual ; and something like physical
hindrances for a time bar the way to a comfortable assur-
ance. For such cases it is impossible to lay down definite
prescriptions, or give instructions that can be of much prac-
tical avail. Experience must be the chief guide ; and they
who cannot find their way thus to the proper mode of
treatment, will derive little help either firom the lecture-room
or the written page.

There are cases, however, occasionally occurring in times
of religious awakening, and assuming the aspect of a hopeful
concern about salvation, in dealing with which the pastor
will have need of other qualities than those which may suffice
for guiding ordinary inquirers into the way of peace and
safety. It is quite possible that persons may become dis-
quieted in conscience, and exhibit considerable marks of a
penitent and changed condition, who still have never become
properly alive to their condition as sinners, who are not pre-
pared either to confess or to forsake all that is evil in their
temper and conduct, and who, therefore, if they should be
plied merely with the consolations of the gospel, might
readily solace themselves with a peace which is not of God.
Such persons need to be dealt with first in a spirit of faithfiil '
severity; they must be made to know themselves better
before they can apprehend Christ aright as their Saviour,
and enter into the participation of His risen life. We meet

SUPPLEMENTARY METHODS OF INSTRUCTION, ETC. 285

with cases of this description in the New Testament ; for
example, in the scribes and Pharisees as a class ; in Nico-
demus most especially ; in the rich young ruler ; and in the
method of treatment adopted toward them by John the
Baptist and our Lord, searching, wise, faithful, we have the
line marked out which, in similar circumstances, we ought
to follow. It may not be quite easy to detect the lurking
evil, or descry amid the signs of apparent life and hopeful-
ness the indications of a want of thorough earnestness and
sincerity ; but possibly something in the manner, if carefully
watched, may discover it, or it may come out as the result of
personal inquiries or incidental means of information. When
once ascertained, there should be no dalljdng with the spiri-
tual sore in their condition ; no false delicacy in bringing
the truth of God to bear upon it ; faithfulness, applying the
axe to the root of the tree, is the real kindness. Take as a
good illustrative example the following case which occurred
in connection with the ministry of an evangelical minister
of the Church of England in last century, Mr. Walker of
Truro : — * One of his visitors for private instruction was a
young man, who stated that he called to thank him for the
benefit he had received from his ministry, and to beg his
advice. Mr. Walker immediately questioned him as to the
knowledge he possessed of his own heart, when the youth
expressed in general terms a conviction that he was an un-
worthy sinner. Perceiving by his manner that he had never
duly experienced that conviction, Mr. Walker at once entered
into an explanation of the sinner's character, with a personal
reference to the individual before him. He dwelt upon
his ingratitude to God, the evil nature of the motives which
had influenced all his actions, the fruitlessness of his life,
the defilement even of his best deeds, and then added, " I
fear you are secretly displeased with me, because I have
not commended your good intentions and flattered your
vanity." " No indeed, sir," said the young man, " I feel

286 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

extremely thankful for this striking proof of your kindness
and regard."' Yet even this was feigned; for the young
man himself next day confessed that he felt inwardly cha-
grined at the small account Mr. Walker seemed to make of
his professions, and had even secretly determined to en-
counter no more the searching questions which had exposed
his shallowness and wounded his pride. But he could not
carry out his purpose of forsaking his instructor ; the arrow
of divine truth had entered his heart, he submitted himself
to the righteousness of God in Christ, and ever afterwards
led an exemplary Christian life. But under a less discern-
ing and faithful minister, who can tell what might have been
the result? Most probably a fresh increase to his self-
complacency, followed by future backslidings, ever-recurring
inconsistencies, and much that betokened the form rather
than the life of godliness.^

Cases of this description render it manifest that all is by
no means accomplished when personal concern is awakened,
or when the sinner assumes the position of an inquirer, and
that a pastor has often much more to do with those who
seek advice from him regarding their souPs interests than
quote a few passages of Scripture and point their way to
the Saviour. Nor does the difficulty always arise from some
latent insincerity or deep-rooted contrariety in some respect
to the humbling tenets of the gospel. It may come in great
part from the relations of social or domestic life, from
embarrassments created by the rival claims of affections and
interests, which in themselves are good, and in respect to
which it is no easy matter to decide when they compete for
the precedency. That which, if one of these claims stood
alone, might commend itself to approval, may appear, when
relatively considered, to be attended with so many risks and

1 See also some other illustrative cases remarkably well conducted
in Spencer's Skdches^ particularly the one entitled * Delay ; or, The
Accepted Time.*

SUPPLEMENTARY METHODS OF INSTRUCTION, ETC. 287

hazards to interests naturally esteemed precious, that a man
may be tempted to pause before making the venture, and to
ask whether, meanwhile at least, something less might not
be held reasonable and proper. Perplexing cases of this
sort will sometimes present themselves, for which, either to
choose oneself the right path, or to counsel others in regard
to it, there is needed a* spirit of discretion as well as of godly
simplicity, and still more perhaps even than that, a strong,
reliant faith in God's word, the faith which can remove
mountains, and which can fearlessly take the course of
lofty principle in the calm assurance that God will stand by
the right, and, in spite of all that seems adverse or perilous,
will cause it to become the best for present peace and
blessing as well as for ultimate good. The history of Pro-
vidence is ever furnishing exemplifications of this, and with
such the prudent and conscientious pastor will do well to
keep himself acquainted, in order that, from the expe-
rience of others as well as from his own observation and
knowledge of the way of life, he may be able to guide his
people through the more trying emergencies of their lot^

2. The earnest and devoted pastor, however, must not
be satisfied with simply meeting such cases as come of their
own accord to him for counsel and direction; he must
himself assume the part of an inquirer in regard to some,
whether formally connected with his congregation or l)dng on
its outskirts, endeavouring by one method or another to get
into personal contact with them, and bring them to a sense of
what seems unrighteous in their course and perilous in their
condition. I have already noticed the temptations there
are with many ministers of the gospel for neglecting this
part of pastoral duty, and of the difficulties attending its
discharge. Indeed, these are altogether so peculiar and

* Some excellent specimens of what is referred to may be found in
Spencer's Sketches^ especiaUy * The Persecuted Wife;* also one or two
in Warton's Deathbed Scenes and Past Conversations,

A

288 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

SO various, that I should only, I fear, spend time to.little
purpose by going at any length into the subject. It is
not so properly a science to be studied as an art to be
learned ; and, like all other arts, to be learned to purpose, it
must be pursued amid the objects of real life. The felt
responsibility of being put in charge with immortal souls,
among whom there appear to be some perishing for lack
of knowledge, and incapable of being effectually reached by
public ministrations — this, to awaken the desire'for putting
forth special efforts in their behalf, and such works as those
already referred to suggest practical hints for the most likely
methods of accomplishing the end in view, will do more
than the most elaborate prelections on the general nature
and objects of the duty. I indicate only a few essential
points.

First, all reasonable care should be taken beforehand to
know the real state and character of the parties intended to
be dealt with. There should always be more to go upon
than vague impressions or general rumours. Knowledge
here, of a circumstantial and definite nature, may truly be
designated a key to at least a certain measure of success ;
for it lays open to us the realities of the case we have to
deal with, and so both prevents us from stumbling upon
imaginary evils, the bare suspicion of which might lead us
astray, and brings us acquainted with the precise evils which
have, if possible, to be mastered.

Secondly, we should prepare for the dealing, by consi-
dering well the forms of evil or aspects of character to
which we mean to address. ourselves in the way of reform,
the thoughts and considerations which it might be best
to urge on the notice of the persons concerned, the very
passages of Scripture also we would lodge in their memory ;
and prepare, moreover, by invoking the guidance and bless-
ing of Him in whose name alone everything should be done
that touches the interests of salvation.

SUPPLEMENTARY METHODS OF INSTRUCTION, ETC. 289

Thirdly, this which I have just mentioned, salvation, i^
the end that should be kept steadily in view, in our private
dealings with individual souls, as well as in our public
ministrations. Nothing less ; for short of this nothing will
avail to their real wellbeing, or fulfil the design of a gospel
ministry. Slighter reforms, however proper to be mentioned,
and made perhaps the starting-point of our remarks, should
still only be regarded as the preliminary stages to be gained,
the soul's surrender to Christ and appropriation of His pur-
chased redemption being ever kept in view as the proper
landing-place we desire to reach. It is this high aim, also,
which best nerves the mind to such close and often delicate
iritermeddhng with other men's states and modes of life ;
for, when such mighty interests are seen to be at stake,
what practical difficulties should not the servant of Christ
be ready to encounter !

Finally, while a spirit of profound earnestness and fidelity
to the cause of truth should constitute the ground of the
whole proceeding, sincere and fervent love should animate
and characterize the mode of conducting it, love that may
be felt ; for this will soften every stroke, and lend weight to
every argument and appeal we make. *I cannot tiiink,'
said one to a truly evangelical pastor, * how your people
bear such plain speaking ;' to which the reply was, * It is
because they know I love them.' And of the love itself,
which bears such blessed fruit, it has been justly said, that
' it is not the addressing people with epithets of endearment
and words of tenderness which proves its existence and
secures its objects ; it must be a deep, inward love of souls,
learned beneath the cross of Christ; it should manifest itself
rather in the actions of a loving life than in ready and
apparent demonstrations ; and when it is real, it will lead
to the self-den)dng abandonment of ease, favourite pursuits,
and of pleasant company, tliat in the morning, and at noon-
day, and at evening-tide, whenever we can best reach them,

T

J90 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

we may be with the sick and with the whole, teaching the
young, and comforting the mourners, and recalling the
wanderers, and building up the weak. Such love as this
will impart to the true pastor a character which all ca&
understand, and which, in the long run, few can resist.' ^

III. Pastoral Visitations. — A considerable part of the
delicacy connected with a portion of the cases which call
for special dealing is in great measure avoided by the
practice known among us by the name of pastoral visita-
tions ; that is, stated official visits, once a year in congrega-
tions or parishes of moderate size, to the various households
more or less connected with the particular pastorate. No
one who is really bent on winning souls will ever think of
limiting his intercourse with the families of his flock to such
visitations, unless, indeed, the magnitude of his charge or
infirm health in a manner oblige him to do so. Yet, even
if he should be able to do not a little in that casual and
incidental way to keep up a certain intercourse with them,
the practice of regular household visitations is in itself a
good one, and for various reasons ought to be maintained.
It tends, first of all, in a very natural and appropriate
manner to keep alive in the minds of the people the feeling
that they are under pastoral oversight. For, by such visita-
tions, the fact is ever and anon b^pought prominently before
them, that it is a recognised part of ministerial duty to take
cognizance of the families and individuals belonging to a
pastorate, and from house to house as well as in the sanc-
tuary speak to them of the things pertaining to the kingdom
of God. The practice, besides, furnishes the pastor with
an excellent opportunity, perpetually recurring, of breaking
the bread of life to the families of the flock in a more
homely manner than can be done from the pulpit, and of
engaging in acts of devotion with them as one of themselves.
* Bishop of Oxford's (Wilberforce) Addresses^ p. 93.

SUPPLEMENTARY METHODS OF INSTRUCTION, ETC. 29 1

But in addition to all this, it carries with it the great advan-
tage of providing him with an occasion for noticing anything
that may have appeared to him amiss in particular families
or individuals without seeming to go out of his way for the
purpose. If he has observed symptoms of ungodliness to
be growing upon them, if attendance upon ordinances has
begun to be less regular and serious than it formerly was, if
questionable courses are known to have been entered on,
improper companionships formed, scandalous outbreaks of
temper exhibited, whatever it may be that has given occasion
for anxiety concerning them, the practice of regular pastoral
visitations enables the pastor, in a quiet and unobtrusive
manner, to bring his Christian influence and counsel to bear
on the incipient evil, and perhaps prevent it from going
further. There may possibly be only a few things of the
kind referred to calling for notice in each round of pastoral
visitation ; but it may, notwithstanding, be found of con,-
siderable moment, in a practical point of view, to have such
a method of dealing with them.

If it is asked, after what manner should the visitation be
conductied ? or, at what times ? nothing very explicit can
be indicated in the way of answer, nor should anything like
unbending imiformity be attempted ; the diversified circum-
stances of congregations and families call for a correspond-
ing variety. Indeed, amid the artificial arrangements of
modem society, the great difficulty often is to find any time
suitable for such visitations, families being so variously
occupied with the employments of active life, and so
seldom for any length of time gathered together in their
respective homes. In such cases almost the only practicable
method is for the pastor to make a brief visit to the nearly
empty households at some convenient season during the
day, and appointing a particular dwelling in which to meet
them together in the evening ; a method that may occasion-
ally be adopted as a variation, even where not absolutely

2^2 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

necessary; but which always carries the relative disadvantage
of losing, to some extent, the more private and special in
the general. Usually, where it can be done, the most
effective method is to take each family apart, and either
draw them into conversation on spiritual matters, such as
we have reason to think likely to prove instructive and
edifying to the family; or give a short exposition of some
passage of Scripture, with such directness and point in the
application as may be fitted to tell beneficially on the hearts
of those we seek to impress ; or, still again, where there are
several young persons in the family, put a few questions to
them firom the Catechism, with subordinate questions and
illustrations calculated to bring out the meaning, and then
turn the points of doctrine or duty thus elucidated to prac-
tical account for the older as well as the younger members
of the family. Prayer should always conclude the exercise,
and prayer so constructed as to bear specific reference to
the several classes composing the membership of the house-
hold and the duties respectively devolving on them. Which-
ever method be adopted, nothing should be done in a rapid
and perfunctory manner, as if the object were merely to
perform a certain amount of work in a definite portion of
time. Work so done is not likely to peld much return of
spiritual good. We must throw our souls into it ; and if we
do so, we shall find that a comparatively small number of
families is as much as can be satisfactorily overtaken in a
day, as it necessarily involves a considerable degree of
mental labour and spiritual anxiety. And here, as in other
things, he who would win the blessing must not grudge the
cost.

It is impossible, as I have said, to prescribe for work of
this description any uniform rule ; nor can the example of
any single individual, however eminent in ministerial gifts,
or honoured in the work itself, be fitly set up as a kind of
universal pattern. Yet it may not be without benefit to set

SUPPLEMENTARY METHODS OF INSTRUCTION, ETC. 293

before one's mind occasionally a higher specimen of skill
and devotedness in this department of pastoral labour, if
not for the purpose of copying it, which may now be im-
practicable, yet as an elevated ideal, which may serve to
stimulate one's exertions, and lead to greater things being
aimed at than might otherwise be thought of. Such an
ideal we undoubtedly have in the account given by Richard
Baxter of the practice of the well-known Joseph Alleine,
when assistant parish minister of Taunton. * He would,'
says Baxter, * give families notice of his coming, the day
before, desiring that he might have admittance to their
houses, to converse with them about their soul-concerns,
and that they would have the whole family together against
he came. When he came, and the family were called
together, he would be instructing the younger sort in the
principles of religion by asking several questions out of the
Catechism, the answers to which he would be opening and
explaining to them. Also, he would be inquiring of them
about their spiritual state and condition, labouring to make
them sensible of the evil and danger of sin, the corruption
and wickedness of our natures, the misery of an unconverted
state; stirring them to look after the true remedy proposed in
the gospel, to turn from all their sins unto God, to close with
Christ upon His own terms ; to follow after holiness, to watch
over their hearts and Hves, to mortify their lusts, to redeem
their time, to prepare for eternity. These things, as he
would be explaining them to their understandings, so he
would be pressing the practice of them on their consciences
with the most cogent arguments and considerations. Besides,
he would leave with them several counsels and directions
to be carefully remembered and practised for the good of
their souls. Those that were serious and religious he would
labour to help forward in holiness by answering their doubts,
resolving their cases, encouraging them under their diffi-
culties. And before he did go from any family he would

294 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

deal with the heads of that family, and such others as were
grown to the years of discretion, singly and apart ; that so
he might, as much as possibly he could, come to know the
condition of each particular person in his flock, and address
himself in his discourses as might be suitable to every one
of them. If he perceived they did live in the neglect of
family duties, he would exhort and press them to set up the
worship of God in their families, and directing them how to
set about it, and to take time for secret duties too. Such
as were masters of families he would earnestly persuade and
desire, as they did tender the honour of Christ and the
welfare of their children and servants' souls, to let them
have some time every day for such private duties, and to
encourage them in the performance of them ; nor would he
leave them till he had a promise of them so to do. Some-
times, also, he would himself go to prayer before his de-
parture. This was his method,* Baxter adds, *in the general,
although with such necessary variation in his particular visits
as the various state and condition of the several families did
require. If the family where he came were ignorant, he
would insist the longer in instructing and catechizing; if
loose, in reproving and convincing ; if godly, in encouraging
and directing. He did use to spend five afternoons every
week in such exercise, from one or two o'clock till seven in
the evening. In which space of time he would visit some-
times three or four families, and sometimes more, according
as they were greater or less. This course he would take
throughout the town ; and when he had gone through, he
would presently begin again, that he might visit every family
as often as he could. He often did bless God for the
great success he had in these exercises, sajring that God
had made him as instrumental of good to souls this way as
by his public preaching, if not more.'

Pastoral visitations conducted after this fashion mig^t
justly be termed a doing business with people about the

SUPPLEMENTARY METHODS OF INSTRUCTION, ETC 29$

salvation of their souls ; it displayed such laborious pains-
taking for their spiritual good, such earnest travailing in birth
for its accomplishment, as bespoke a man of apostolic zeal
to whom * to live was Christ ;' and it was but a specimen,
though doubtless one of the more distinguished specimens
of what about the same period was pursued by the Puritan
ministers in many an English parish, and very generally in
Scotland. In Scotland it was both more generally followed
and longer continued ; and it undoubtedly contributed much
to that wide diffusion of religious knowledge and observance
which, in the better periods of their history, has been the cha-
racteristic of the Scottish people. The instructions issued by
the General Assembly on ministerial visitations in 1708,^ if

* Act of Assembly 1708 respecting Ministerial Visitations.

* I. After the minister has got an account of the persons dwelling in
the family, he may speak to them all in general of the necessity of re-
generation, and the advantages of serious religion and godliness, of
piety towards God, and justice and charity towards man.

* 2. And next more particularly to the servants ; of their duty to fear
and serve God, and to be dutiful, faithful, and obedient servants, and
of the promises made to such ; commending to them the reading of the
Scriptures as they can, and prayer in secret, and love and concord
among themselves, and, in particular, a holy care of sanctifying the
Lord*s day.

* 3. The minister may apply his discourse to the children^ as they
are capable, with affectionate seriousness, showing them the advantage
of knowing, loving, seeking, and serving God, and remembering their
Creator and Redeemer in the days of their youth, and honouring their
parents, and to mind them how they were dedicated to God in bap-
tism ; and when of age and fit, and after due instruction of the nature
of the covenant of grace and the seals thereof, to excite them to engage
themselves personally to the Lord, and to desire, and prepare for, and
take the first opportunity they can of partaking of the Lord's Supper ;
to be especially careful how they communicate at first, much depending
thereon (and such of the servants as are young are to be exhorted hereto
in like manner) ; exciting them also to daily reading of the Scriptures,
and to secret prayer, and sanctifying the Lord's day.

' 4. After the minister has spoken to servants and children, he should

296 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

properly carried out, must have required a substantial repe-
tition of the method practised by Alleine. As a rule, it can
be but occasionally and partially followed now ; there has
cotoe, along with other changes in the course of time, such
a divided state of things in parishes and families, such an
impatience of authority and whatever in matters of religion
wears an inquisitorial aspect, such a want of repose also for
the quiet and thoughtful handling of spiritual concerns, as

speak privately to the master and mistress of the family about their per-
sonal duty toward God, and the care of their own soul's salvation, and
their obligation to promote religion and the worship of God in their
family, and to restrain and punish vice and encourage piety, and to be
careful that they and their house serve the Lord and sanctify the Lord's
day. And after this it may be fit to exhort masters to take care that
God be worshipped daily in the family by prayer, and praise, and the
reading of the Scriptures. 2d. Concerning the behaviour and conversa-
tion of the servants, and their duty towards God and man, and how
they attend the worship of God in the family, how they attend the
public worship on the Lord's day, and how they behave after sermons ;
if any of them be piously inclined ; if they make conscience of secret
prayer and reading the Scriptures. 3^^. If there be catechizing and
instructing the ignorant and weak ; if due care be taken in educating
the children ; and particularly, if they be put timeously to school, and
how they profit thereat, and how the Lord's day is spent after sermons
in the family and in secret : in all which the minister may mix in suit-
able directions, encouragements, and admonitions as he shall see cause,
imd most for edification.

* 5. (Directs inquiry as to the supply of Bibles.)

* 6. (To exhort communicants to remember and pay their vows. )

* 7. Seeing there is need for all this of much prudence, zeal for God,
and love to souls, and affectionate seriousness, all this should be carried
on with dependence on God and fervent prayer to Him, both before a
minister sets forth for such work, and with the visited, as there shaU be
access to and opportunity for it. '

[Sensible and good in the main, but somewhat too formal, dwelling
proportionally too much on externals, and carrying the appearance of
a degree of inquisitoriousness j the great object better gained by going
more into the spirit and life of religion.]

SUPPLEMENTARY METHODS OF INSTRUCTION, ETC 297

renders the spirit only, not the precise form, of the good old
practice for the most part applicable in our generation.
Ministers of the gospel, therefore, must here endeavour to
adapt themselves to circumstances, and follow the example
of her who is commended for having done simply what she
could.

IV. Catechetical Instruction, — One part of the object
intended to be gained by pastoral visitations has been
often sought by means of meetings for catechetical in-
struction; diets for catechizing, as they used to be called
among us. No method, certainly, is so well calculated
as that of communication by means of question and
answer, for enabling the pastor to get at the real state of
knowledge in those who are committed to him for instruc-
tion in divine things ; none also better adapted for bringing
such as are imperfectly enhghtened in the truth to clear and
definite views of it, and exercising their faculties to a proper
discrimination between the doctrines of God and the errors
and corruptions with which they have been overlaid by men ;
and when regularly carried out by special meetings for the
purpose, held from year to year and from place to place, as
was once the common practice in Scotland, it must have
had a considerable eflfect in sharpening the intellects of the
people in connection with religious subjects, and raising
them to a relatively high place as to the possession of doc-
trinal knowledge.

That, however, was probably about the whole of the result
that came out of the yearly catechizings as they were wont
to be conducted, an increase of head knowledge ; so far,
indeed, good if kept in its proper place, and used chiefly as
the means to a higher end, but a very inferior good if rested
in as an end of its own, or held merely as the buttress and
ornament of a lifeless orthodoxy. There is some reason to
fear that this, latterly at least, was the turn things in great

298 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

measure took, especially when persons in full communion
with the Church, as well as those in training for it, were
subjected to the process (a thing scarcely capable of justi-
fication in an ecclesiastical respect) ; and the growing con-
viction of the general inefficiency of the practice with
reference to the higher interests of religion, coupled, with
the somewhat awkward exhibitions not unfirequently made
at them by the more bashful and retiring portions of the
flock, tended to bring on a disrelish for such catechizings,
and ultimately, in most parts of the country, - led to their
discontinuance.

The tendencies in this direction were considerably strength-
ened by the passing away of the old simplicity of manners,
the gradual introduction of a more artificial state of society,
accompanied by a greater diversity of rank and position
among the people. The minister could not well be cate-
chizing before others ladies and gentlemen, or persons who
would not be quite pleased if they were not reckoned such ;
and then, if they were exempted as belonging to a higher
grade, others not very far beneath them in circumstances,
possibly in religious knowledge and character superior, could
scarcely deem themselves treated with due regard if they
should seem to be kept in a sort of leading-strings. Were
it only, therefore, to avoid the appearance of partiality, it
became in a manner necessary to graijt to others the exemp-
tion which had already been conceded to some. And
another thing which might be said to consummate the change,
and to do so without any real loss, was the general estab-
lishment of Sabbath schools and of Bible classes for the
young. These being usually placed under the superintend-
ence of the pastor, and bringing him more or less into intel-
ligent contact with the minds of the young when ripening to
manhood and womanhood, very much superseded the neces-
sity of stated examinations for the congregation as such.
At the proper period for acquiring the elements of religious

SUPPLEMENTARY METHODS OF INSTRUCTION, ETC. 299

knowledge the pastor has taken cognizance of at least the
greater number of those who ultimately form the congrega-
tion; so that, in ordinary circumstances, the work of the
pastorate in this particular line might be fairly regarded as
done.

- It is not, therefore, by any means an absolute loss that
has here to be thought of, but rather the dropping of one
mode of action for another, which is even in soiile respects
better, because when rightly managed more thorough and
complete. Regularly conducted and well-organized Sabbath
schools, followed up, wherever practicable, by Bible classes
for the more advanced, may be made most effective instru-
ments for the godly instruction and upbringing of the young ;
and they have this advantage, that while they aflford ample
opportunities for pastoral inspection and oversight, they also
serve to call into play the available Christian agencies be-
longing to the congregation ; others, with capacities of ser-
vice differing according to the gift of Christ, become fellow-
workers with the pastor in sowing the gospel seed. But the
pastor must keep his hand at the plough also here ; espe-
cially in rural situations, where the supply of teachers is
usually most imperfect, and the presence of the pastor is
needed to give life and direction to the whole. And he
may find it useful — useful to the older as well as to the
younger portions of the congregation — to have occasional,
quarterly perhaps, or half-yearly, examinations of the Sab-
bath school in the church ; taking care, through the ex-
aminations, to bring clearly out to all present the great
facts and principles of the gospel of Christ, and to enforce
the lessons taught by such illustrative examples and appeals
as may prove interesting and instructive to all classes.
Methods of this nature wisely planned, and diligently carried
out, will in most situations be sufficient to compensate for
what has been lost.^
. ^ It is scarcely necessary to add, that the personal catechizings which

300 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

V. Visitation of the Sick and Afflicted. — The only point
that remains to be noticed under this general division has
respect to the case of those who are in circumstances of
distress — the diseased, the dying, or the bereaved. The
ministration of counsel and comfort to these is undoubtedly
a most important branch of pastoral duty. It is such, in-
deed, that the neglect or slovenly discharge of it will go far
to neutralize the effect of all other services. For the pastor
who makes himself strange in the households of his flock,
whil^e they are involved in sorrow or stricken with disease
and death, will invariably be regarded as devoid of the
tenderness and consideration which are the most appro-
priate characteristics of his calling ; also, as letting most
precious opportunities slip for prosecuting his high com-
mission. He will be regarded as one more intent on his
own ease or gratification than on the business of his
spiritual vocation, and even as doing what he may other-
wise perform in the fulfilment of its duties, rather out of
respect to worldly motives and inducements, than from zeal
to the glory of God, and love to the souls of men. So
strong is the general feeling among Christian people on this
point, that they will hardly allow cases of fever, or other
diseases supposed to be infectious, to form a just ground of
absence at such times. Unless in very extreme cases, the
shrinking of the minister firom the region of danger is viewed
as a dereliction of duty, since there appears in it an unwill-
ingness to adventure for the sake of men's souls where
others readily go for the sake of their bodies. He should
therefore consider well how much the course of procedure
he follows here may tell upon his general standing and use-
fulness. If he might be disposed, firom a nervous dread of

it was the more immediate object of Baxter in his Reformed Pastor to
recommend, are no longer suitable or practicable ; they never were so
except in part, or in some particular situations ; but the work itself is
in other respects of great practical value, and well deserves perusaL

SUPPLEMENTARY METHODS OF INSTRUCTION, ETC. 30I

infection, or from what may seem a becoming regard to the
welfare of his family, to stand aloof, he should reflect that
disease — possibly the very form of disease he seeks most
anxiously to avert — may reach him by ways he cannot
anticipate or prevent ; and that it were unspeakably better
the visitation should find him while faithfully pursuing the
path of duty than when timidly deserting it. It is a happy
thing, in such times, when one can attain to the conviction,
that in all ordinary cases the path of duty is more than any
other the path of safety ; because, when followed with due
precautions, and in a spirit of unshrinking fidelity, it is that
in which one can most confidently look for the divine pro-
tection and blessing. Not that, even when he has attained
to the conviction and is prepared to act on it, the pastor
should feel himself obliged to visit the infected chamber,
when it is clear he can minister no spiritual benefit, or when
he is himself in a state of bodily exhaustion ; but merely that
inferior considerations should be kept in their proper place,
and no one should have just reason to say that for certain
by-ends of his own he allowed the solemn calls of duty to
fall into abeyance.

It is possible, however, at such times to show much sym-
pathy and attention, and still fail miserably in the discharge
of duty ; never, indeed, rise to any due conception of it.
There is a natural feeling in the minds even of the careless
and ungodly, which prompts them to desire the visit of a
minister when trouble and sickness lie heavy upon them ;
they are for the time checked in their worldly course ;
ordinary comforts and supports fail them ; their minds are
involuntarily thrown into a sombre mood; and they are
hence prepared to welcome into their habitation one who
comes as the ^^peculiar representative of religion. His very
presence is by some thought to carry a blessing with it ; and
to hear from his lips a few words of consolation, or obtain
the benefit of his prayers, is too often deemed sufficient to

302 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

atone for many a past neglect Now, a minister may fall in
with this state of feeling, and by so doing greatly endear
himself to his people ; while still nothing after all may be
done which the occasion properly demands, and the parties
concerned may presently again move on, as before, in their
course of worldliness or indifference. Personally, the pastor
may have grown in their affection and esteem ; but they are
not the less settled on their lees.

It is in another spirit, and for other ends, that the true
servant of Christ will endeavour to discharge the duty de-
volving on him in the season of trouble. His behaviour
will certainly be marked by such kindness and sjnnpathy
as will give him a firmer hold of the affection and confidence
of his people ; but his great concern will be to deal faithfully
with their souls, and turn the time of their special visitation
into a season of grace and blessing. Personal illness or
family trouble is a favourable opportunity for getting nearer
to them in a spiritual respect than can usually be done at
other times, and pressing home upon them the words of
soberness and truth. It is with such words especially they
should then be plied ; and it were better one should abstain
from attempting to act the part of a comforter, than leave
them mistaken or in doubt as to the way in which it is to be
found. Should the general tenor of their life have been
manifestly wrong, and one has reason to fear that they are
still in alienation from the life of God, it were kindness
altogether misplaced, cruelty, indeed, rather than kindness,
to refrain from touching the great sore in their condition,
and bringing it into contact with the true, healing balsam of
the gospel. The task may often be alike delicate and diffi-
cult ; it may even exceed all the skill and consideration
which we are able to muster for the occasion, or cause us at
least to feel in doubt whether we had actually readied the
bottom of the matter ; but this, at all events, is the great
point to be aimed at ; and above and beyond the common

SUPPLEMENTARY METHODS OF INSTRUCTION, ETC. 303

sympathy we may cherish, and the ordinary acts, of kind-
ness in which we may express it toward them, we should
set our hearts on the object of having them brought to
know and partake of the good part which cannot be taken
from them.

Such, in particular, should be the spirit and characfer of
our procedure with those who are themselves stricken with
disease, and may possibly be trembling on the brink of
eternity. It is a solemn thing to have to deal, in God's
stead, with, persons who are lying under the shadow of
death ; in a few brief hours, perhaps, destined to give in their
final account. * There are two classes,* Bengel remarked,^
* which a minister of souls should make his especial care :
those which may be called the first and the last, the children
and the dying. The first, because in them he may look for
the largest outpouring of blessing on his labours ; the last,
because so little time remains for the fulfilment of his mini-
stry to them,^ In their case it is indeed now or never ; and
many a time, when the knell of death has finally rung out
the season of opportunity, the spiritually-minded pastor will
see cause to reproach himself for not being more frequent
in his visits, and more earnest in his pleadings with . them,
while they still were within the offer of mercy. It is true,
probably, that the actual number of conversions on the bed
of death is not very great; few, it may be, compared with
the whole of those who have exhibited some evidence of
an awakened concern about their souls, and of a hopeful
trust in Christ There must always, when the concern or
hope has begun only then, be a want of full satisfaction as
to the result ; since the grand test necessarily fails of a work
of grace, namely, a stedfast adherence to Christ amid the
trials and temptations of life. And the sad relapses often
made into the ways of vanity and sin by those who have
awoke apparently to righteousness under the momentary

1 Life, p. 147.

V

304 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR;.

apprehension of death, when the danger which produced it
has passed away, leaves no room to doubt that the same
results would have happened in the case of many others
who, after undergoing similar experiences, passed into their
final home. Still, there are doubtless some whom the grace
of Grod reaches even then for the first time ; and the bare
possibility of being the instrument of rescuing so much as
one, or a very few, amid the last flickering moments of life,
cannot but dispose the faithful pastor to seize with all readi-
ness the opportunities presented by such solemn emergencies
to do the work of an evangelist.

It is, however, to be borne in mind, that though there
may not be many actual conversions in the time of severe
sickness or approaching death, there are many cases in
which these prove seasons of peculiar blessing ; cases ever
and anon occurring, in which the already existing germ of
life, comparatively latent before, becomes quickened by the
stirring experiences of the time, and developes into full con-
sciousness of vitality and strength ; and cases, again, in
which where life has distinctly appeared, though compassed
about with obvious failings and infirmities, a fresh start is
taken, and presently a more healthful, vigorous, and decided
tone discovers itself in all that is thought and done. The
valley of Achor is thus found a door of hope — of hope, at
least, as a distinctly realized and conscious power, or a
sustaining and governing principle of action; and the
diligent pastor, like the wise and skilful physician, should
endeavour so to tend, and guide, and nourish the reviving
energies of life, while still labouring in the valley, as to help
forward the desired result. He should not imagine that for
this end much speaking on divine things will always be
requisite. Not unfrequently the individual is incapable
from bodily prostration to follow that sufficientiy ; and even
when capable, would probably be less benefited by it than
by something short, if only earnest, thoughtful, and suited

SUPPLEMENTARY METHODS OF INSTRUCTION, ETC 305

to his spiritual condition. A single verse or brief passage
of Scripture, uttered in a serious, affectionate, and believing
manner; or the same in a few appropriate sentences, ex-
plained and applied, will often do more than a multitude of
words. For the thing chiefly needed is to get the heart first
to know itself, and then to apprehend and grasp by a living
faith, as suited to its wants and weaknesses, the word of
God's faithfulness and truth ; when this is done, all in a
manner is gained. And very commonly, as I have said, it
will be most readily gained, not by lengthened addresses, or
by long prayers ; but by tenderness of spirit, sympathetic
feeling, discriminating fidelity ; faith mingling with all, and
giving point and impressiveness to the sayings it brings forth
from the oracles of God.

In regard to experienced believers the method pursued
will naturally differ, according as they are themselves exer-
cised under their affliction. If their faith continues living,
and death itself is anticipated without alarm, the pastor will
often feel that he has litde to do as a guide or instructor, but
has himself to learn rather than to teach ; and has only
as a sympathizing friend to mingle his expressions of faith
and hope, his tears and prayers, with those of the afflicted
to whom he ministers. Cases, however, will occur in which
he will find other work to do ; to re-assure hearts that in the
hour of trial have begun to lose the hold they were wont to
have of the Saviour ; to strengthen the fainting spirit, and
allay vexing doubts and fears which, perhaps, were little
known till the waves of sore trouble began to beat upon
them. In dealing with cases of this sort, the pastor will
sometimes find his own spirit not a little tried ; he will be
made to see how impotent man's word is to calm such per-
turbations of soul, and restore it to confidence in God; how
little even God's word may avail, unless it be handled \idth
a realizing sense of its power and sufficiency, as well as

skilfully applied to the particular moods and trials of the

u

306 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

persons concemed. Prayerful consideration, therefore,
seriousness of spirit, and special preparation as to the most
effective mode of reaching the springs of thought and feeling
in the bosom, may be needed for the pastor, if he is to do
the part of a true spiritual physician. And for this, what-
ever help he may derive from human compositions, he will
still repair as his chief armoury to the word of God ; for
only on the sure sayings of that word can the troubled soul
be really brought to anchor itself in the near prospect of
eternity.

Times of sickness and bereavement, it should further be
remembered, are fraught with solemn lessons to the other
members of the family beside those more immediately
affected. And these ,the pastor should also keep in his eye,
and help as much as possible to a right improvement of the
dispensations of God toward them. He should try to
impress them with the conviction that seasons of severe
affliction are seasons of special dealing on the part of God,
who doubtless watches with peculiar interest for the proper
result. And it will also be well for him to urge on them
the important consideration, that it is not so much by the
outward circumstances of one's death, or the precise shade
of feeling in which it is met, that the final issue for each
shall be determined, as rather by the treatment he has given
through life to God's manifestation of Himself in His Son,
and the evidence borne by his daily walk and conduct to
the reaUty of his faith and the sincerity of his love.

PUBLIC PRAYER AND OTHER DEVOTIONAL SERVICES, 307

CHAPTER VII.

PUBLIC PRAYER AND OTHER DEVOTIONAL SERVICES.

IT is necessary to give so much space to the function of
preaching and other collateral duties in treating of a
pastor^s ministrations, that a comparatively brief discussion
must suffice for what concerns the devotional part of the
church-service.^ It scarcely, indeed, admits of prolonged
discussion, unless where the service has been permitted to
grow into a mass of liturgical observances. A certain
measure of simplicity of worship may still be preserved,
though a litur^ is used in the main parts of the service, as
is the case in some of the churches of the Reformation,
Presbyterian as well as Episcopal. But in these cases the
responsibility and the power of the pastor are of a very
limited nature. He has the matkriel of the service prepared
to his hand ; and to give the prefer tone and character to
this, is the whole that can justly be expected of him. Even
that, however, is not so easy as might at first sight appear ;
for though it neither demands nor admits of any fresh
thoughts or independent manifestations of pious feeling, it
necessarily owes much of whatever interest or impressiveness
may belong to it to the manner in which it is performed.
If the officiating minister should go through this department
of his work in a dull and spiritless style, like one treading
the routine of a prescribed formalism, the performance is
sure to repress and deaden the devotional feelings of the
people rather than stir and quicken them into lively exercise.
Let the mode of conducting divine worship be what it may,
' Compare Allon's Essay on Worship, in Eccksia,

308 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

if it is to be for a congregation of believers a worship in
spirit and in truth, the person who conducts it must himself
enter into the spirit of the service, uttering from his own
heart what he would have re-echoed from the hearts of
others. And, obviously, the more beaten the track that is
to be followed, the more familiar to all the specific forms
of devotion, the greater at once must be the need of a
lively devotional sentiment to inspirit them with life, and
the difficulty also of expressing it through the appointed
channels.

But with liturgical services we have at present nothing to
do, as they have been rejected from a place in our public
worship. With us the minister who has to address the
people on God's behalf has also to address God in behalf,
and indeed in the name, of the people. The responsibility
here, therefore, is considerably greater. The matter of de^
votion, as well as its manner and the fitting adaptation of
one part of it to another, are left entirely in his hands ; so
that, according as he possesses or wants the requisite quali-
fications for the work assigned him, must the edification and
comfort of the worshippers be promoted or marred in the
service. It is chiefly, of course, in connection with the
prayers offered in the sanctuary that these qualifications will
be brought into play, but other parts of the service will also
afford a certain scope for their exercise. The psalmody of
the congregation is always so far under the pastor's control,
that to him belongs the selection of the pieces to be sung ;
consequently it is his part to see that they are appropriate
to the lessons of the day, and of a kind fitted to sustain and
raise the devotional spirit of the worshippers. In the
majority of cases, perhaps, he may not be able to do much
more directly in this Hne, as the musical accompaniment
must be managed by others. He should, however, take
an interest in this, and endeavour to diffuse a sense of its
importance in the congregation, and encourage by every

PUBLIC PRAYER AND OTHER DEVOTIONAL SERVICES. 309

legitimate means its due cultivation. The remarks of Baxter
on the general subject are nearly as applicable now as when
they were originally penned : ' A great part,* says he, ' of
God's service in the Church assemblies was wont in all ages
of the Church till of late to consist in public praises and
eucharistical acts, and the Lord's day was still kept as a day
of thanksgiving in the hymns and common rejoicings of the
faithful, in special commemoration of the work of redemp-
tion, and the happy condition of the gospel Church. I am
as apprehensive of the necessity of preaching as some
others, but yet methinks the solemn praises of God should
take up much more of the Lord's day than in most places
they do.'

It is not, however, the comparatively small space given
to the celebration of God's praise in public song, so much as
the imperfect and unsatisfactory manner in which it is often
performed, that is cause of regret. A prolonged singing of
praise soon becomes wearisome, unless it is peculiarly varied
and finely adjusted as to the mode of execution ; and then
comes the danger of allowing it to degenerate into a mere
artistic display. The happy medium is to have the singing
arranged and modulated, so as at fitting intervals to relieve
the service, and by the lyrical fervour of sacred song, chanted
to appropriate melodies, to give vent to the devotional feel-
ihgs and aspirations of the worshippers. For this, unques-
tionably, a certain attention must be paid to the aesthetical
element, to the cultivation of sacred music as an art, without
which there never can be anything like a properly varied
and eflfective psalmody; and the pastor should exert his
influence, especially on the younger members of his congre-
gation, for the purpose of inducing them to lend their
efforts in this direction. Still, of course, the mere mecha-
nical part of the work, even though it were performed with
the most correct taste and propriety, is but, as it were, the
shell of the service of praise ; the kernel must be sought in

310 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

something higher, in the spirit and life that are infused into
it on the part of those who chiefly engage in it. Everything
here in a manner depends on the state of devotional feeling
in the congregation, which, when lively and strong, never
fails to impart a freshness and fervour to the singing which
would be sought in vain from simply artistic cultivation.
It is therefore the primary duty of the pastor, with respect
to this department of public worship, to endeavour to awaken
and foster the devotional element among his people ; and
this will of itself, if wisely directed, dispose them to give the
requisite heed and application to the subsidiary means,
which, in their own place, are capable of rendering impor-
tant service toward the perfecting of praise.

It is further to be remembered, that the celebration of
divine praise in the sanctuary is only in part to be identified
with the congregational psalmody. Formally, the chief
part is to be found there ; but the praise of God should
also have expression given to it in the portions of Scripture
read, which will sometimes^ at least, contain what is pre-
eminently matter of praise, and still more in the direct
addresses made to the throne of grace. In what is called
common or public prayer, thanksgivings and adorations
should ever form a prominent part And they will be a fit
expression of the general sentiments of devout acknowledg-
ment and gratefiil feeling, cherished by the better portion of
the assembled people, only when the pastor who represents
them, and speaks in their stead, is in his own soul properly
responsive to the infinite goodness and manifold grace and
wisdom of God. In this alone there is matter of serious
concern to the pastor ; and the more so when the fiirther
consideration is added, that not merely the imited weekly
ascription of a people's thank-offerings to God, but also their
collective experiences and desires, their confessions of sin,
their sense of want and danger, their fears, temptations,
hopes, deliverances, must all, in like manner, find their

PUBLIC PRAYER AND OTHER DEVOTIONAL SERVICES. 3 II

Utterance through his lips. To be thus the representative
and organ of a religious community in their stated meetings
for intercourse with Heaven, is to occupy one of the highest
positions at once of privilege and responsibility ; and in no
part of his vocation more than in this is it desirable that
the pastor should be a kind of typal Christian ; one in whose
bosom every pious thought and feeling may lodge as in its
proper home, and come forth in suitable times and ways for
the glory of God and the edification of His Church. It
will be a grievous mistake if this should be supposed to be
a simple thing ; for there can be no reasonable doubt that
the difficulty of doing it aright, and doing it with some
degree of regularity, is what originally led to the use of
liturgies, and what still leads many persons of unquestion-
ably sincere and earnest piety to prefer them to extempore
prayer in the sanctuary.^

I. The primary requisite, therefore, for pastoral work
here, as for the preaching of the gospel, and, if possible,
still more here, consists in the pastor's own state, in the
qualities which go to constitute a man of God. There must
be an enlightened discernment and appreciation of the truth
as it is in Jesus; and along with that, an experimental
acquaintance with the heart, so that he may be able to
hold communion with God as one who is in a sense
familiar with the divine presence, and has known what it is
to transact with God for his own salvation. Yet, standing
as he does in the room of so many others, and pleading
with God for them, he must be able to combine with a
regard to self in th^ matters of religion a regard also to the
state of those around him, repressing what is more peculiar
to himself where it might fail to meet with sympathy in his
fellow-worshippers. A man may not, in public prayer any
more than in private, indeed he cannot^ if he throws his

* See Shield's edition of the Book of Common Prayer^ as to the rela-
tive place of prayer and praise.

312 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

soul into the exercise, lose his proper individuality. Both
in the things he utters and the manner in which he utters
them, there will undoubtedly be the impress of his own cast
of thought and feeling, and in that^ what will, no doubt,
serve to distinguish his prayers from those of other men.
Yet in public prayer this individuality should be kept within
comparatively narrow bounds ; since it is only what is proper
to the individual believer, in so far as it is in a measure
shared in, and is capable of being sympathized with, by the
company of believers whom the minister for the time
represents, that should find articulate expression before the
throne of the Majesty on high. It is what is common to
the heart of faith and love, rather than what is peculiar to
one or a few, which should at such times be brought into
notice. The tendency which minds of strong individuality
have to run out into veins of thought and forms of expres-
sion which carry an air of extravagance to ordinary men,
should here especially be kept in check. The thought of
the awful presence in which we stand, and of the feelings
and necessities of those who are partaking with us in the
exercise, should of themselves shame into silence every idea
or word which might seem to others forced and unnatural,
and aimed, perhaps, at display.^

2. If the possession of a Christian state and sympathy
with the Christian mind of a congregation be the primary
element in a minister's qualifications for conducting aright

^ There could scarcely, perhaps, be found a better description of
what is here meant than is given by Jonathan Edwards in his account
of the eminently devout David Brainerd's manner in prayer : * This,' he
says, * was very agreeable ; most becoming a worm of the dust, and a
disciple of Christ addressing an infinitely great and holy Grod and
Father of mercies, not with florid expressions, or a studied eloquence,
not with any intemperate vehemence, or indecent boldness. It was
at the greatest possible distance from any appearance of ostentation,
and from anything that might look as though he meant to recommend
himself to those that were about him, or set himself ofif to their accept-

PUBLIC PRAYER AND OTHER DEVOTIONAL SERVICES. 313

the united prayers and thanksgivings of those among whom
he ministers, the cultivation of an appropriate manner may
certainly be placed next. It is of importance that the
devotional spirit should give vent to itself in a natural and
becoming mode of expression. For devotion, as well as
popular speech, has a style of its own, though the one is
no more than the other a juniform style. There may be as
many shades of difference in the mode of presenting prayer
to God, as in the sacred oratory which aims at instructing
and convincing a fellow-creature. But never, when sincere
and genuine, will the one take precisely the hue and tone
of the other ; since no truly humble and enlightened
Christian can speak forth his feelings to God after the same
manner that he would utter his mind to one of like passions
and infirmities with himself. The former kind of address
will naturally be pervaded by a subdued, reverential, hallowed
air, which, if not wholly wanting in the other, will not at
least be found in anything like the same measure ; and the
perfection in this respect may be said to be reached when
the feeling instinctively arises which has been known to be
expressed respecting an exemplary pastor, ' The man prays
as if he /ived at the throne of grace.'

Let it not be imagined, however, that there is any need
for the manner being artificial or stereotyped, as if some
peculiar pitch of voice, or a kind of tone and cadence
essentially different from that of ordinary discourse, were

ance. It was free also from vain repetitions. He expressed himself
with the strictest propriety, with weight and pungency ; and yet what
his lips uttered seemed to flow from the fulness of his heart. * A very
different sort of praying, therefore, from that mentioned by an American
periodical not long ago of a Mr. Everett, and characterized as * the
most eloquent prayer ever addressed to a Boston audience ; * a rhetorical
effusion, formally, no doubt, addressed to God ; but in reality, as the
paper stated, to the audience that listened to it with such admiration.
Prayers of that description do not reach beyond the place of meeting
where they are spoken.

314 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

required to give to prayer its appropriate devotional impress.
There are cases, no doubt, in which the devotional spirit
does clothe itself with some such peculiarity, and does so,
possibly, without the effect being sensibly marred in the
experience of those whom use has familiarized to the dis-
tinctive habit. It is still, however, a defect, as all mannerism
is ; and in the great majority of cases it will be found, if
closely investigated, to prove more or less an impediment
to the proper efficiency of the service. The artificial form
insensibly usurps to a certain extent the genuine spirit of
devotion. Some please themselves with the tones of a
sanctimonious manner, instead of pressing into the realities
of a true spiritual intercourse with Heaven ; while others,
perhaps, suffer themselves to be arrested by the peculiarity
of the manner, instead of being silently and powerfully borne
along with the stream of spiritual thoughts and aspirations
expressed. To aid this concurrence of devotional senti-
ment, an agreeable simplicity and naturalness of manner in.
the officiating minister is of great service ; it should be such
as befits one with his habits of thought and feeling when
assuming the attitude of profound reverence and holy
earnestness. Such a manner, however, though in itself
only what might be deemed natural, may not be quite
easily arrived at ; in certain cases, at least, it may call for a
good deal of patient and assiduous effort, but it is what no
one should rest satisfied without having in good measure
attained. And even when attained, it is of real avail only
when it is the vehicle of a quickened spirit'

Perhaps more pains should be taken in this direction

* Two things may be mentioned in particular as desirable to be
avoided in prayer. One is quickness and rapidity of utterance, a fault
young preachers are very apt to fall into ; and objectionable, both
because it has an irreverent appearance, and also because the people
cannot intelligently follow. The other is boisterousness, which Mr.
James justly discriminates from earnestness ; the confounding of the two

PUBLIC PRAYER AND OTHER DEVOTIONAL SERVICES. $1$

than is commonly done even by the more pious portion of
evangelical ministers. Cecil has noted it as a defect that
appeared among them in his time, although his mode of
doing so, as it appears in his /Remains, is by no means free
from exception. He is reported to have said, ' The leading
defect in Christian ministers is want of devotional habit.
The Church of Rome made much of this habit. The con-
tests accompanying and following the Reformation, with
something of an indiscriminate enmity against some of the
good of that Church as well as the evil, combined to repress
this spirit in the Protestant writings \ whereas the mind of
Christ seems to be, in fact, the grand end of Christianity in
its operation upon man.' There is an element of truth
undoubtedly in the remark, both on the Protestant and the
Romish side; but it is too broadly announced, and with
less of the clearness and discrimination which usually dis-
tinguish Mr. Cecil's remarks. He could scarcely have
meant, though the words ascribed to him seem to imply as
much, that there is more either of the mind of Christ or of
true devotion among Popish priests than with evangelical
ministers as a class. The whole that could justly be said,
and probably the whole really meant by Mr. Cecil, is that
the devotional element has had a more prominent place
assigned to it in the system represented by the one class
than in that represented by the other, and that in this
relative prominence the Romish party have acted more in
accordance with the mind of Christ. But in such a matter
the appearance must not be taken for the measure of the ,
reality. In the public services of the Church of Rome, the
devotional form has become well-nigh the one and all ; and

he characterizes as * a mistake too commonly made by many, who work
themselves up mto vociferation and actual contortion. Such vehemence, *
he properly adds, * like a violent blast of wind, puts out the languid
flame of devotion, when a gentle breeze would fan it into greater in-
tensity,' — Earnest Ministry, p. 125 sq.

3l6 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

the officiating priests, who are constantly employed about
the services, naturally acquire much of the devotional habit;
though, as possessed and exercised by them^ one would never
think of characterizing it as a nearer approach to the mind
of Christ than what is to be met with in Protestant worship.
Still something may be learned from them in respect to the
point to which they have given their chief attention ; and
however little the devotional habit may be worth, when
unaccompanied by the devotional spirit, it is not in itself to
be undervalued.

3. Another thing requiring careful attention in respect
to public prayer is the selection of appropriate language,
the use of a suitable and becoming phraseology. Very
commonly this may be assumed as a thing almost certain
to follow from the possession, in any a'dequate measure, of
the spirit and manner already adverted to. But such is not
uniformly the case ; and by ministers themselves it should
never be regarded as a matter of course, coming without
painS or consideration on their part ; it should engage more
or less of their attention. And the fundamental ground on
which they should proceed is the representative position
they are called to occupy in presenting the adorations and
prayers of the congregation. The officiating minister per-
sonates a body of worshippers; he must therefore endeavour
to give his ideas the form and clothing which they can
readily understand and appropriate as* their own. If the
language is too ornate, if it is such as would appear to them
artificial and far-fetched, it will inevitably jar upon their
feelings, and disturb the heavenward flow of their thoughts
and desires; to suit its purpose, it must, in general, be
embodied in such a mode of expression as they are wont to
associate with the exercises of devotion.

Now, to this nothing is more indispensable than sim-
plicity ; it is an unfailing characteristic of all profound and
earnest devotional utterances. It is so even when these

PUBLIC PRAYER AND OTHER DEVOTIONAL SERVICES. 317

take a poetical form, and appear in psalms and hymns,
though from the demands of the verse a certain freedom in
respect to language is easily conceded to them. But only
within comparatively narrow limits ; for in such composi-
tions unusual forms of expression, remote or technical terms,
and pompous phraseology are fatal to success. * Of senti-
ments purely religious, it will be found that the simplest
expression is the most sublime,* said Samuel Johnson truly,
though he made a wrong application of it, when on the
ground of this thought he argued against the possibility of a
high religious poetry. But the fact is decisive as \o the
proper style. and diction of prayer; if it wants simplicity, it
wants the most essential element of adaptation to the minds
of a Christian congregation. And for more eflfectually
securing this element, or securing it in the best possible
form, the whole should be cast much in the mould of
Scripture, and should be marked by a free use of its
language. For, being the storehouse alike of God's more
special communications to men, and of the returns made to
Him by His more elect worshippers, Scripture provides,
not merely in the matter of its contents, but also in the
very form into which they are thrown, the best directory
and most fitting vehicle of devotion. Its utterances of faith,
of desire and hope, were in a pecuhar sense prompted by
the Spirit of God ; and the more that believers are under
the power of His grace, the more will they ever be disposed
to pour out their hearts before God in what may justly be
termed the Spirit's own style. I am not, however, to be
understood as indicating that passages of Scripture alone
should be employed in prayer ; this is neither necessary nor
is it expedient A prayer simply and wholly composed of
such passages cannot fail to wear a sort of borrowed, mis-
cellaneous, and commonplace character. It will seem as if
the mind, when speaking only in forms prepared to its hand
and culled from all parts of Scripture, were somewhat formal

3l8 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

and apathetic in its own frame. Yet, while Scripture should
not constitute all, it should undoubtedly give the tone and
character to alL And he who would excel in this spiritual
gift must be at pains to have the word of Christ dwelling in
him richly.^

4. In addition to these general prescriptions, which have
respect to the matter as a whole, I would earnestly advise a
certain measure of special preparation for the devotional
work of the sanctuary. The preparation, indeed, should be
twofold, consisting partly in having the heart brought into
a suitable frame for the exercise, and partly in having it
provided with fitting materials of thought and expression.
The former is also, no doubt, somewhat general ; it must be
in a great degree habitual to the minister ; and yet, even
where it is so, he will rarely find that he can safely dispense
with some special pains of a preparatory nature before actu-
ally proceeding to the duty. The bustle and anxiety con-
nected with the working out of his discourses for the Sabbath,
will naturally have the effect of repressing the immediate
outgoing of devotional sentiment, will even occasionally

* In addition to the more general directions given above, I would
notice a few things which ought to be avoided in prayer. I. Ungram-
matical or vulgar expressions, such as 'Grant to impart unto us;*
* We commit us unto Thee,' * We commend us unto Thee, and to the
word of Thy grace.* Now we may commend others to God and His
Word, but it is a very inaccurate, and indeed scarcely intelligible mode
of speech to say that we commend ourselves to these. And I confess
I do not like the expression, *Come into our midst,* or *Be in our
midst.' 2. The too frequent use of the same forms of expression, such
as Heavenly Father, or any particular name of God, when almost solely
used, has the appearance of a kind of mannerism ; and Oh ! much
repeated, becomes a mere expletive. Scripture is in this a fine example.
3. Amatory language, such as 'Lovely Jesus,* 'Dear Lord,* 'Sweet
Saviour. ' Here, again. Scripture is the best model. 4. Undue &mili-
arities, which may take different forms, such as 'metrical quotations,'
extreme professions of unworthiness, personalities either of a flattering
or sarcastic kind ; all such things are in bad taste.

PUBLIC PRAYER AND GTHER DEVOTIONAL SERVICES. 319

render the mind less apt to cherish it ; and a little time will
be needed to get the desires of the heart back, and the
mind raised to such a spiritual tone, as will render the work
of communion with God altogether congenial to its existing
state.

In regard, however, to the other kind of preparation,
that which refers to the providing of materials of thought
and expression suited for the occasion, something more
precise and definite may be said. For, as the pastor, when
going to conduct the services of the sanctuary, has to bear
on his he^rt various interests and relations, none of which
should be overlooked or passed slightly over, he both may
and should have in his eye distinct topics for notice in
prayer, and particular trains of thought to be pursued. Not
otherwise will he be able to give sufficient freshness and
point to his supplications, or present them in a form alto-
gether appropriate to the occasion. Entirely unpremeditated
prayers will usually partake much of the character of unpre-
meditated discourses ; they will consist chiefly of common-
places which float upon the memory, rather than of thoughts
and feelings that well up from the hidden man of the heart ;
and as they have stirred no depths in the bosom of the
speaker, so they naturally awaken but a feeble response in
the minds of the hearers. Nor can it fail, when this off"-
hand method is systematically pursued, that sentiments and
expressions will occasionally come out which are in bad
taste, or palpably wanting in adaptation to the time and
circumstances wherein they are employed. Hence, I fear,
it is that there is so often a marked difierence in the interest
felt, even by good people, in the prayers offered at their
stated meetings for worship, as compared with that arising
from the sermons delivered ; the one does not, while the
other does, spring from a background of well-arranged
thought and spiritual consideration.

A sensible American writer in the Princeton Review^ some

320 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

time ago gave expression to the same view of the subject,
and supported it by some remarks that are well deserving of
consideration. * Ministers,* he says, * labour hard to pre-
pare to address the people, but venture on addressing
God without premeditation/^ Dr. Witherspoon says, *that
the Rev. Dr. GilEes of Glasgow, who in his judgment ex-
ceeded any man he had ever heard in the excellency of his
prayers, was accustomed to devote unwearied pains to pre-
paration for this part of his ministerial work ; and for the
first ten years of his ministry never wrote a sermon without
writing a prayer appropriate to it This was also Calvin's
habit ; and many of the sermons printed in his works have
prayers annexed. An aid which Calvin found needful, no
man living need be ashamed of employing/

It is true that most of the prayers appended to Calvin's
printed sermons are very short, more like bri^f collects
than regularly constructed prayers, expressing in a few
pregnant words the thoughts and desires naturally suggested
by the subject which had formed the matter of discourse.
But the mind which was habituated to such pieces of devo-
tional writing could not be negligent of preparation for more
lengthened services of the same description, whether they
might take the form or not of written compositions. Pro-
bably the more advisable course for ministers of settied
congregations will be to meditate, rather than formjally com-
mit to writing, the chief prayers they are going to oflfer in
the public meetings for worship; to think carefully over,
occasionally also to note down, the train of thought, or the
special topics and petitions they mean to introduce, with
such passages of Scripture as are appropriate to the occasion.
The mind will thus be kept from wandering at large in the
exercise, and yet will move with more freedom than if it
were trammelled by the formality of a written form ; will be
able more readily to surrender itself to the hallowed influ-
^ Quoted in British and Foreign Evang, Review^ p. 14.

PUBLIC PRAYER AND OTHER DEVOTIONAL SERVICES. 32 1

ences of the moment At the same time, I cannot but
regard it as a good exercise for the pastor, calculated to
improve his gifts in this direction, and to render him more
apt and felicitous in his method of conducting public prayer,
if he should accustom himself^ not only to peruse some of
the best models of devotional utterance, but also to compose
particular forms for his own usd Such a practice, though
only pursued at intervals, will bring here also a measure of
that advantage which always springs from sustained applica-
tion an4 cultivated skill ; and cannot but help to check the
tendency, which is so apt of itself to grow, of doing little
beforehand even by way of premeditation, and of perform-
ing the service in a kind of slovenly and conventional
manner.

5. Nothing has yet been said as to the length of time
proper »to be spent in public prayer, or to the greater or less
frequency with which it should be introduced into the regular
services of the sanctuary. But these are obviously points
which call for some consideration. They are also closely
connected with each other ; for the less frequent the acts of
common prayer are, the more protracted will each particular
exercise naturally be. It has been for long a very common
practice in Scotland to have only two prayers at each meet-
ing for public worship ; and to make the first prayer, the
one before sermon, by much the longer of the two, so that
it not unusually runs out into a continuous address to God
of twenty minutes or upwards. I cannot but think this
practice unhappy, since it necessarily tends to fatigue the
mind by too long a strain in this one direction, and to leave
the service of the sanctuary bereft of that variety of relief
which, within certain limits, are not only allowable, but of
material use, as helping to sustain the attention and keep
alive the devotion of the worshippers, A measure of respect
is due to an established practice in worship, even though,
abstractedly considered, it may not approve itself as in all

X

322 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

respects the best ; and it would be unwise rashly to interfere
with it, or strike at once into a path altogether new. It is
right, however, to bear in mind, that the usage in question
rests upon no proper authority ; that it is, indeed, an inno-
vation of comparatively late times; for, according to the
authorized Directory for public worship, there should be at
the principal meeting of the congregation each Lord's day
three several prayers, and, with the Lord's prayer, four j for
the latter, though not authoritatively enjoined, is yet recom-
mended as deserving a place in the stated observances of
worship. * The order there set forth as the most fitting to
be observed consists, first, of a brief prayer as soon as the
minister enters the pulpit, composed chiefly of adoration
and invocation ; then the singing of Psalms and the read-
ing of sacred Scripture, of which a portion is to be taken as
well from the Old as firom the New Testament ; after this
comes another prayer of greater length, in which there should
be made hiunble confession of sin, also acknowledgment
of the loving-kindness and mercy of God in providing the
blessings of salvation, with an earnest and varied supplica-
tion of an interest in these for different ranks and conditions
of men ; then the discourse, which is again to be followed
by prayer, singing of Psalms, and the benediction. No par-
ticular place is assigned for the introduction of the Lord's
prayer ; this was left to the discretion of the minister, as
was the place also for supplicating the divine blessing on
magistrates, rulers, and other subjects of public interest ;
they might be noticed before or after sermon, as appeared
most suitable and convenient. As a whole, this order is
undoubtedly better than the one previously referred to,
though I am not inclined to advocate a uniform and rigid
adherence even to it ; and whenever a change is deemed

1 * And because the prayer which Christ taught His disciples is not
only a pattern of prayer, but itself a most comprehensive prayer, we
recommend it also to be used in the prayers of the Church Directory.'

PUBLIC PRAYER AND OTHER DEVOTIONAL SERVICES. 323

desirable on the mode of service that has been in use in any
congregation, care should always be taken to carry the feel-
ings and inclinations of the people along with us.

Perhaps the chief point in respect to which a nearer ap-
proach to the Directory should be generally aimed at, is the
introduction of two prayers before sermon in the principal
service instead of one. The advantage of this will be, that
the devotional element will obtain a more prominent place,
and also that, by dividing into two what otherwise would
need to be compressed into one, each exercise will be less
protracted, and 'the attention, especially of the young and
the less informed, will be more easily sustained. But what-
ever may be the precise number of devotional services,
public prayer should never be much protracted, should
rarely if ever, I would say, exceed at a stretch a quarter of
an hour, and, as a general rule, two prayeis within that
limit would be greatly preferable to one going beyond it
For, if a few individuals in a congregation of strong intel-
lects and ardent piety might be found capable of enjoying
and profiting by a more prolonged exercise of devotion, with
the great majority it will certainly be quite otherwise. And
in nothing does undue protraction more infallibly defeat
itself than in prayer ; for if once the minds of the worship-
pers relax their attention and get into a wandering mood,
the proper frame is gone, and it will rarely be possible to
have it again restored by subsequent effort.

Further specification or more minute detail on such a
subject seems to be unnecessary. A right state of feeling
regarding it, with some measure of common sense, will be of
much more avail than a thousand specific rules and direc-
tions. Let the pastor, first of all, place this branch of public
duty among the things which demand his earnest considera-
tion, and which, with regard alike to the substance and
manner of the exercise, call for serious forethought and
application. Let him also bear in mind that the spirit

324 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

manifested by him, and the power put forth in the devotional
parts of the service, will be sure to leave its impression on
the minds of his people ; and that, according as he rises
toward the proper measure of excellence, so are they likely
to become elevated in their tone and practice as worshippers.
Let him still further bear in mind that, for the character of
other parts of the service, and especially for the effect of the
discourses he may deliver, much depends on the interest he
throws into the work of prayer, and the spirit of devotion
thereby evoked on the part of the people. For when the
result in this respect is as it should be, when the hearts of
the people have really been borne along with the pastor in
his supplications at the throne of grace, and a profound
sense of God's presence is in consequence awakened in
them, vast preparation is made for the earnest consideration
and belief of the truth. They are thus brought to feel that
it is with God rather than with man they have to do in the
treatment they give to the preached gospel, and that the
matter demands their most serious thought. On this ac-
count, no doubt, it partly is that the ministrations of deeply
pious, though comparatively weak or unlettered men, have
often been accompanied with results upon the hearers more
lasting and productive of spiritual good than by the exertions
of those who have been able to bring the highest powers
and attainments to the work. The spirit of prayer resting
upon them diffuses itself among the audience, and disposes
them to receive the word as it is preached in simplicity and
godly sincerity. Hence, seasons that have been remark-
able for the spirit of grace and suppHcation have also been
the most noted for the successful preaching of the gospel,
even sometimes when the style of preaching has been by no
means distinguished for the graces of pulpit oratory. Nor
is the fact unworthy of notice which is reported by Gillies ^

to have been observed by a Mr. Hutcheson, minister of

«

^ Historical Collections^ p. 201.

PUBLIC PRAYER AND OTHER DEVOTIONAL SERVICES. 32$

Killellan: 'When I compare/ he said, *the times before
the Restoration with the times since the Revolution, I
must own that the young ministers preach accurately and
methodically ; but far more of the power and efficacy of
the Spirit and grace of God went along with sermons
in those days than now. And for my own part (all the
glory be to God), I seldom set my foot in a pulpit in those
times but I had notice of some blessed effects of the
word.' It were wrong, perhaps, to ascribe the whole of
this difference to the greater prevalence of the spirit of
prayer at the one period as compared with the other ; for
various things of a peculiarly grave and stirring kind un-
doubtedly contributed to make the period before the
Restoration and that also preceding the Revolution times
of great moral earnestness and awakened interest about the
concerns of salvation in Scotland ; but it assuredly had an
important bearing on the matter. The public troubles and
convulsions then constantly transpiring drove the hearts
alike of pastors and people to close communion with God,
and prompted the one to preach and the others to hear in
a different manner from what is too often witnessed in more
quiet and easy-going times. Such things are lessons in Pro-
vidence to us, and it is our duty to profit by them, yet so as
to make due allowance for circumstances of place and time,
and thinking rather of the general principles of instruction
furnished by them than of simply adopting them as. patterns
for servile imitation.

>■

326 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

CHAPTER VIII.

THE ADMINISTRATION OF DISCIPLINE.

IF we take our views of the Christian Church from what
is written in Scripture of the nature and ends of the
Chri3tian calling, as well as of the pains taken by the apostles
to reprove and cast out whatever was palpably opposed to
purity of communion, we shall have no doubt that the ad-
ministration of discipline must be one of its necessary
functions. And from the position of the pastor, as called in
a peculiar manner to preside over its affairs, the exercise of
this frmction miist specially devolve upon him, although, in
rightly constituted churches, there will be others to share
with him the responsibility and the burden. It is a depart-
ment of pastoral duty which, from its very nature, must
involve a good deal that is delicate and irksome, which will
even be foimd occasionally fraught with trouble and per-
plexity. For it brings the sword of the Spirit into sharp
conflict with man's pride and corruption, and requires unre-
served submission to Him of whom, in some respect, they
have been practically saying, We will not have this Lord to
rule over us. Here, indeed, there has ever been discovering
itself one of the strange inconsistencies that cleave to pro-
fessing Christians, strange because it is so flatly opposed to
the whole spirit and tendency of the gospel, that while they
will not only endure, but even insist upon, sound doctrine
in the kind of preaching they listen to, they will often not
endure sound discipline. And both from this known reluc-
tance on the part of many to submit to the exercise of

THE ADMINISTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 327

spiritual authority, and from the habits of intercourse and
mutual good-will subsisting between the administrators of
the discipline and the subjects of it, a strong temptation
naturally arises to be somewhat slack or partial in its appli-
cation, to do it in many cases but hal^ or even to leave it
altogether undone.

Symptoms of defection in this respect began to discover
themselves at a comparatively early stage of the Church's
history, ominous of what might confidently be looked for in
the future. The church at Corinth, which started so well,
and with such a plenitude of gifts, ere long drew down upon
it the severe rebuke of Paul for its want of faithfulness in
checking disorder and licentiousness among its members.
And of the seven churches of Asia, to whom the glorified
Redeemer, as the chief Shepherd and Bishop of souls,
sent specific messages, how few escape censure on a
similar account? Even in the most favourable circum-
stances, and in the hands of the most faithfiil rulers, there
will doubtless be occasional failures ; back^idings and
disorders will not be met with the corrective discipline
that should be applied to them ; and at no period has the
Church to any considerable extent approached as nearly
the condition of being without spot or wrinkle in the state
of her membership as a thoroughly faithfiil and efficient
administration might have made it In early times, how-
ever, it can scarcely be questioned, discipline did in general
flourish ; and With its vigorous administration the Church felt
her existence of prosperity in a manner bound up. The
notices which appear in the history of the times, and the
well-known exemplariness of the Christians as a body,
fiimish on this point the most ample proof. So that it was
only expressing the general minds of all the better authorities
in the early Church, when Cyprian, for example, spoke of
discipline as the ' safety of the Church,* * the stay of faith
and hope,' 'inculcated in all Scripture as necessary to the

328 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

order and purity of the Church ; ' or when Augustine desig-
nates it ' the tutor of religion and of true piety.' Indeed,
the predominant tendency in those time^ was rather to lay
too much stress on it than too little, to expect from it in
a measure what could only be accomplished through the
direct action of the grace and truth of the gospel. And so,
when the ascetic element diffused itself as a subtle poison
through the leading minds of the Church, and the higher
discipline which it made so much account of came to be
identified with the perfection of the Christian life, discipline
in the Scriptural sense fell into abeyance ; things needful to
the guardianship and maintenance of the common Church
life were neglected, in order that the bodily fastings, the
mortifications, the self-imposed labours and penances of
monkery, might have their due prominence and laudation.
The very naxae dtsa/>/tne caxnQ by degrees to be appropriated
to such things ; while, among others who lay beyond its
sphere, hypocrisy, corruption, worldliness of every sort,
flowed in ; and these common forms of evil were, after the
establishment, of Christianity, for the most part met with
worldly modes of treatment ; civil pains and penalties, fines
and corporeal inflictions of some sort, too commonly taking
the place of the true, brotherly, spiritual discipline of the
gospel of Christ.

Of this true Christian discipline, as contradistinguished
from all coercive measures of a physical and penal descrip-
tion, Milton has justly said in his own peculiar manner :
* It seeks not to bereave or destroy the body ; it seeks to
save the soul by humbling the body, not by imprisonment
or pecuniary mulct, much less by stripes, or bonds, or disin-
heritance ; but by fatherly admonition and Christian rebuke
to cast it into godly sorrow, whose end is joy, and ingenu-
ous bashfulness to sin. If that cannot be wrought, then as
a tender mother takes her child and holds it over the pit
with scaring words, that it may learn to fear where danger

THE ADMINISTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 329

is ; so does excommunication [ie. discipline] as dearly and
as freely without money use her wholesome and saving
terrors. She is instant, she beseeches ; by all the dear and
sweet promises of salvation she entices and woos ; by all
the threatenings and thunders of law, and a rejected gospel,
she charges and adjures. This is all her armoury, her
munition, her artillery. Then she awaits with long suffer-
ance, and yet ardent zeal. In brief, there is no act in all the
errand of God's ministers to mankind wherein passes more
lover-like contestation between Christ and the soul of *a
regenerate man lapsing, than before, and in, and after the
sentence of excommunication.' ^

The object of such dealing in respect to the Church
itself, is to have its actual state brought into as near con-
formity as possible to its Scriptural idea, by repressing in-
cipient evil within its pale, or casting out of it what gives
just occasion of offence. And in respect to the parties more
immediately concerned, its design is to lead them to a right
view of their particular case, and produce in them an
honourable shame, by bringing to bear upon them the more
earnest, spiritual sense of the pastor and those associated
with him in the care and oversight of the flock. And if
anything, as again excellendy said by Milton in another
treatise,* ' may be done to inbreed in us this generous and
Christianly reverence one of another, the very nurse and
guardian of piety and virtue, it cannot sooner be than by
such a discipline in the Church as may use us to have in awe
the assemblies of the faithful, and to count it a thing most
grievous, next to the grieving of God's Spirit, to offend those
whom He hath put in authority, as a healing superintendence
over our lives and behaviours, both to our own happiness
and that we may not give ofience to good men, who, without
amends by us made, dare not against God's command hold

* Of Reformation in England^ 2d Book.

• The Reason of Church Government, Book ii sec. 3.

330 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

communion with us • in holy things. And this will be
accompanied with a religious dread of being outcast from
the company of saints, and from the fatherly protection of
God in His Church, to consort with the devil and his
angels.'

This, undoubtedly, is the correct view of the matter, and
the right mode of aiming at its accomplishment. But the
churches of the Reformation did not readily find their way
to it j many of them, indeed, have never yet succeeded in
doing so, or even in earnestly setting about it. The mourn-
ful confounding of the civil and spiritual jurisdictions which
had existed for ages still lingered in most of them, and dis-
posed them to trust, in part at least, to legal and compulsory
measures for effecting what could only be done to purpose
by spiritual means.^ The same disposition lingers still in
not a few Protestant churches, which can scarcely be said to
have any discipline, except what is secured by the adminis-

* How much this was the case for a considerable time also in Scot-
land, even to a period later than that to which the noble treatises of
Milton belong, will be evident from the following historical statement
by Dr. Lee respecting post-Reformation times: — * Every living soul
within the realm must either conform to the same profession, and
practise the same worship, and submit to the same discipline, or
undergo the vengeance of the law. ... A stripling or a girl of the
examinable age must either communicate in the parish church or else
pay a fine according to the rank of the party. In the year 1600, and
again in 1641, the Church prevailed on the State to impose fines on all
non-communicants of the age of 15 years complete. The fines on
people of condition were very heavy ; and every servant contravening the
Act was liable to pay one year's fee toiies qtwties. These were powers
actually granted to presbyteries, who had a right to crave, receive, and
pursue for the penalties ' (Lee's Lecture on Christian History^ i. p.
204). The zeal of Baxter not only led him to approve of the magis-
trates obliging people by penalties to attend on ministers for instruction,
but also to compel ministers to instruct and subject the people of their
charge to discipline. He would not, however, have any forced to the
communion. (See his Confirmation and Restoration,)

THE ADMINISTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 33 1

tration of justice through the civil and criminal courts of the
lands to which they belong; — a state of things which is
deplored by all who know what a Christian Church ought to
be, though inany, not absolutely ignorant of divine truth,
have through the ill effects of custom become habituated to
the corruption, and in this particular respect have lost sight
of the principles of church order and government. Baxter
speaks of some such in his day in England, whom he once
took, he says, for godly divines ; but who afterwards re-
proached those who endeavoured to maintain discipline, and
would not give the sacrament to every one in their parishes,
as Sacramentarians or Disciplinarians. He justly expresses
his astonishment that such persons could be found in a
Christian Church, and says : * Sure I am, if it were well
understood how much of the pastoral authority and work
consisteth in church guidance, it would be almost discerned,
that to be against discipline is nearly all one with being
against the ministry ; and this, again, nearly all one with
being against the Church of Christ.' For to what end does
the Church exist, but to be a witness to the truth, and an
organ for diffusing the life of Christ ? In proportion, there-
fore, as she harbours corruption within her pale, and extends
the sacred symbols of the faith to those who practically
belie its spirit, she is unfaithful to her trust, and fails in the
very object of her mission to the world.

It must be owned, however, that even where there is a
just appreciation of the nature and of the importance of a
sound discipline, the relative positions of churches, I mean
of such churches as have a constitution which makes pro-
vision for the maintenance of discipline, and aims at it with
more or less of fidelity, interpose certain difficulties in
respect to the efficient discharge of the duty which it is not
quite easy for individual pastors or even churches to over-
come. These differ in Established Churches and churches
independent of the State. In the former, the territorial

332 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

principle, which brings along with it a certain advantage
and authority, brings also a relative weakness ;' since per-
sons, living within the bounds of any particular parish,
naturally come to regard their local situation as of itself
constituting a right to liie ministrations of the parish church,
and to the participation of ordinances within its pale. And
practically it is very difficult, as those know who have had
trial of tiie system, to restrain this feeling within proper
bounds, that is, so to restrain it as to make the membership
of a parish church present the appearance of even a
tolerably pure communion. The unregenerate, the worldly,
the merely nominal professor, who finds the name of Chris-
tianity useful to hitn, but refuses to give any material sacri-
fice or even renounce objectionable courses for its sake,
have advantages for obtaining connection with an Estab-
lished Church which attach to no other Evangelical Com-
munion, and of which they very readily avail themselves.
A parochial economy is thus firom its very nature better
adapted for diffusing a certain amount of religious know-
ledge and profession than of exhibiting the pattern of a
living, spiritual Christian community. For checking the
more flagrant social evils, for removing or preventing the
existence of cases of extreme spiritual destitution, for ensur-
ing the diffusion of a general decency of behaviour, and
bringing within the reach of all the means and opportunities
of grace ; — for such ends and purposes the parish church,
with its appropriate machinery, if well wrought, is perfectly
adapted. But, excepting in very favourable circumstances,
and within comparatively short periods and limited districts,
its congregations can seldom be made to assume the aspect
of a community of saints.

In non-Established Churches there is, for the most part,
a fairer opportunity for making at least an approach to this,
although there are discouraging circumstances of a diff*erent
kind arising out of the divided state of things implied in

THE ADMINISTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 333

their very existence. For this provides facilities to ofifend-
ing parties for evading the close dealing and defeating the
just ends of discipline, by transferring themselves from a
more to a less faithful Communion. Still it is of great
importance that churches which know and hold the truth,
that the Free Church in particular should, in spite of all
hindrances and discouragements, apply herself in earnest to
the maintenance of an efficient and godly discipline. Her
influence in the land for good, and the measure of blessing
she is to receive upon her public ministrations, will to a
large extent depend upon her faithfulness in the exercise of
this function. If the cause of righteousness thrives among
her members, if sin when it breaks out is sorrowed over and
rebuked, if the procedure altogether is such as to show that
the Church cannot bear them that are evil, then she will
command the respect of the community. More than that,
the favour of the Lord will rest upon her, she will be both
blessed and made a blessing. But if, on the other hand,
she should show herself more solicitous about the extent of
her membership than the purity of her communion, if back-
sliders and transgressors are not properly dealt with, and
something like a travailing in birth experienced to have them
brought to repentance and the knowledge of the truth, we
may hold it for certain that her real interest and prosperity
as a Church will decline. Not being jealous for the honour
of her Lord in respect to the hoHness of His house, she will
not be honoured of Him.

Considered merely as a means of spiritual instruction, an
ordinance for impressing the minds of a people with right
views of things, for leading them to distinguish between
what may and what should not be tolerated in Christian
communities, — ^for this end alone a well-regulated discipline
is of no small importance. There are many, in all ranks of
life, who so readily fall in with the stream of custom, and
are so difficult to be convinced of the sinfulness of anything

334 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

however contrary to the spirit of the gospel, if it be but
commonly practised in the neighbourhood, that nothing
scarcely will rouse them to proper thought and considera-
tion about it but the formal act and procedure of the
Church, treating it as inconsistent with the Christian life.
This, if only done on fitting occasions, and done with pru-
dence and discretion, will rarely fail to produce its effect
Individual offenders, it is possible, may not be reclaimed
by it, they may even at times kick at the attempt made to
interfere with their liberty, and only with increased deter-
mination adhere to their objectionable course; but the
general conscience of the community will be quickened,
inquiry will be awakened, and the things adjudicated upon
and pronoimced contrary to a sound profession of the faith
will be more closely examined by the word of God, and a
juster estimate formed respecting them by at least the more
thoughtfiil and serious minds.

It is, however, to be carefully borne in mind, that every-
liiing, both as regards the practicability and the efiect of a
righteous discipline, depends upon the Christian sense and
feeling which one has to work upon in those among whom
it is exercised. While it rests upon the teaching of God's
word as to its formal groimd and warrant, this can be made
valid as a principle of action, in particular congr^ations,
only in so far as it has been wrought into the minds and
consciences of a considerable portion of the community,
and is responded to by them as right and good. To get
this Christian sense and feeling, therefore, widely diffused
and firmly maintained, must always be the first care of the
pastor. Behind all specific measures of repression or reform,
and as the understood basis on which they are to proceed,
there must be a solid groundwork of spiritual enlightenment
and conviction, otherwise the measiu'es will fail for want
of backing, will not carry with them the requisite moral
weight

THE ADMINISTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 335

Passing now from these preliminary considerations to the
actual administration of discipline, the first thing that
naturally comes into notice is the matter about or upon
which discipline should be exercised. There are things in
respect to which no difference of opinion in this respect can
well be entertained among evangelical Christians, they are
so palpably at variance not only with the precepts of the
gospel, but with the findings of the natural .conscience,
that aU will admit them worthy of correction and rebuke.
Adultery, for example, fornication, blasphemy, forgery,
deliberate fraud or theft, habitual neglect or avowed con-
tempt of divine ordinances, these and such like things leave
no room for hesitation or doubt ; they 'are in open con-
trariety to the Christian character, and no one chargeable
with them can be recognised as a proper subject of Christian
privilege. But things are ever and anon appearing of a
somewhat indeterminate nature ; indeterminate, that is, as
to the degree of guilt they involve, or the measure of con-
trariety which the performance of them betrays to the faith
of the gospel. With respect to such things great prudence
and caution are necessary in determining whether they should
be proceeded against by way of discipline, or when. Even
some of those just specified, practices of fraud, for example,
or habitual neglect of divine ordinances, while as facts in the
behaviour of this or that individual they may admit of no
dispute, they may still be found accompanied with so many
qualifying circumstances, complicated relationships, and
grounds of defence real or imaginary, that it may not be
quite easy for the pastor, and those associated with him in
the oversight of the church, to come to thie conclusion re-
specting particular parties, that they should be subjected on
account of them to disciplinary treatment. Then there are
others ; for example, intemperance, violent, revengeful, or
harsh dealing, quarrelsome behaviour, compliance with the
follies or questionable customs of the world, which admit of

336 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

SO many degrees, that the point at which the excess becomes
such as to warrant the interference of church action is a
very variable and shifting one. Even the most experienced
minister and elders will often find it difficult to arrive at
clear convictions as to the path of duty. Generally speaking,
where the conduct has been such as to give rise to ofience,
and begets serious doubt as to the Christian slate of the
parties concerned, though it may still not be chargeable
with deliberate or palpable sin, there should, in the first
instance, be private and personal dealings, which, if wisely
conducted on the one side and properly met on the other,
will very often render any further or more formal proceed-
ings unnecessary. For such dealings, as stated in another
connection, a calm, earnest, and prayerful spirit is peculiarly
required ; since, if a false step is taken at the outset, or an
undue regard should appear to have been given to unfounded
rumours, all chance of doing good will be lost, and a sense
of wrong evoked on account of the treatment experienced,
rather than of regret or shame at the behaviour which occa-
sioned it.

The difficulties connected with these private efforts to
bring imder consideration incipient and less broadly de-
veloped forms of evil have led some ministers to avoid
interfering with anything for purposes of admonition or
censure but what may have become matter of public
notoriety, and as such can be taken up in a formal manner
J)y the Session or other constituted authorities. It is a
course which will, no doubt, save the pastor a good deal of
anxious thought and occasional acts of annoyance ; but this
personal advantage will be purchased at the heavy cost of
sometimes losing the chance of winning a souL For, when
courses of defection like those referred to are censured at a
certain stage, censured when they are still only in the form-
ing, and just beginning to awaken solicitude and concern in
thoughtfiil minds, there is room to hope that something may

I

THE ADMINISTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 337

be done to arrest the evil by faithful treatment, the wrong
bias may yet be checked before it takes its final set ; while,
at a more advanced stage, the transgressor may indeed be
ofccially admonished, suspended from his Church privileges, '
or altogether cut off from the communion of the Church, but
with little prospect of any good being thereby effected on
his spiritual state. He has become wedded to his idols,
and will not be separated from them.

In actual processes of discipline there are three stages,
which naturally succeed each other, and which call for
separate consideration. The first has respect to the ascer-
taining of the facts of the case, often a very perplexing part
of the process. The party suspected or accused has an
obvious interest in disguising them, putting a different face
on them firom that which they actually wear : other parties,
perhaps, have a like interest in overcharging or distorting
them; and persons capable of giving important evidence on
the matter are either unwilling or afiraid to have anything
directly to do concerning it Hence it will sometimes hap-
pen that a very general desire may exist among persons of
influence in the Church to leave what is likely to prove
delicate and irksome in abeyance, or have it summarily
huddled up. In such cases it is always of grave moment
that the pastor be known to be a perfectly reliable person,
one, I mean, who is seen to be actuated by a sincere regard
to the spiritual good of the people, and of firmness tempered
with discretion in his endeavours to discountenance what is
manifestly evil. If he is either too sluggish in bestirring
himself about things which call for serious inquiry, or, on
the other hand, too hasty and forward in pressing them into
notice ; above all, if he is of irresolute purpose, moving but
with hesitating step, doing somewhat and again undoing it,
the result will commonly be, that matters are concealed
firom him which he ought to be informed of, or evidence
that might be forthcoming is withheld from a feeling of

Y

338 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

uncertainty as to the use that might be made of it. But
even supposing him to possess the proper requisites for
inspiring confidence and satisfactorily conducting the in-
quiries necessary to be instituted, he will often find it
extremely diflScult, especially in cases connected with un-
cleanness, to get at the real state of matters ; penetration,
caution, judgment, patience also and industry, will be re-
quired. Guilty or suspected persons will make the most
solemn declarations such as it might seem an act of injus-
tice or hardness of heart to discredit, while yet subsequent
discoveries may show them to be essentially false ; or gross
misconduct will be covered with most plausible excuses
and pretexts which h^ve little foundation in reality. Mini-
sters generally, and especially young ministers, should hear
in such cases with a prudent reserve, taking care not to
commit themselves to a view or espouse a side till fiiU time
has been had for considering the matter, and every acces-
sible means of information has been turned to account. This
should be done, yet so as to beware of giving encourage-
ment to busybodies, or granting a kind of delegated autho-
rity to inferior parties, who are likely to become too full of
their office to manage it discreetly. Occasionally, though
not more than occasionally, and only after every attempt
has failed to get conclusive evidence, the matter may be
put, if not with the form, at least with the solemnity of an
oath, to the individual chiefly interested. This is a last
alternative, and one that can rarely yield a satisfactory
result, because of the strong temptation it affords to lay all
to rest by a false asseveration. It should therefore be very
rarely resorted to.

The next step in the process has respect to the proper
method of dealing with those whose guilt has been admitted
or proved, with the view of bringing them to a right sense of
their sin and such a state of mind as would justify the Church
in restoring them to its communion. This must always fcrnn

THE ADMINISTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 339

a most important part of the proceedings, since it has respect
to that on which the whole issue for the spiritual good of the
oflfendmg parties may be said to turn. It will be understood
of itself that there should be private personal intercourse
held with them. If the whole that is done is limited to the
somewhat formal action of an official procedure, it will but
rarely happen that any real good is accomplished. Yet
even in this part of the dealing, especially in the manner in
which the parties are received and addressed when making
appearance to confess the misdeed laid to their charge, not
a little may be done to prepare the way for future action ;
that is, if by the proper exercise of the spirit of rebuke the
pastor is enabled to penetrate, touch, and soften the heart.

Let it be well considered, however, wherein properly
consists the spirit or power of rebuke, and how, in any
circumstances, it can be made to tell with due effect upon
the minds of such as have gone out of the way. It is very
diflferent from a stem and unflinching denunciation of the
wrath of God against transgressors, or a fiery ebullition of
righteous displeasure at what has appeared of shameful
misconduct. A measure of these occasionally may be par-
doned, or even in extreme cases justified ; but the spirit of
rebuke, as it should commonly be exercised by the Christian
pastor, is something deeper, calmer, more measured and
restrained, and hence is neither so readily acquired nor so
easy to maintain in efficient exercise. Indeed, it is hardly
too much to say, with Isaac Taylor,^ that * every part of the
duty of the minister of religion is more easy to maintain in
vigour than the spirit he needs as the reprover of sin and
the guardian of virtue.' He runs over the other leading
parts of ministerial duty, somewhat certainly under-estimating
the facility with which they may be performed, and then,
with reference to the point in hand, specifies various things
that may be tried as a substitute for it, argument, erudition,

* Saturday Nighty chap. xv.

34© THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

eloquence, and adds, * Ah ! but to speak efficaciously of that
holiness and justice of Almighty Gk)d, and of its future
consequences ; to speak in modesty, tenderness, and power
of the approaching doom of the impenitent, is altogether
another matter, and one that must be left to those whose
spirits have had much communion with the dread Majesty
on high. As the punishment of sin springs by aii ineffable
harmony from the first principles of the divine nature, and
infringes not at all upon benevolence, so must he who would
rightly speak of that punishment have attained to a more
intimate perception of the coincidence of holiness and love
than language can convey, or than can be made the subject
of communication between man and man. This knowledge
belongs to the inner circle of the soul, and is only conveyed
to it in any considerable degree when much meditation and
prayer and abstraction firom earthly passions open the way
to its reception and entertainment.'

It is the possession and exercise of such a spirit that is re-
quired for the discharge, in its higher style, of the duty under
consideration. Of course it will differ, not only in different
individuals, but even in the same- individual firom time to
time ; and not imfirequently, those who have it most will feel
as if they were singularly deficient in the proper manifesta-
tion that should be given to it I speak only of the quality
itself, and of what should be aimed at in regard to it ; what
also, in proportion as it is brought to bear upon persons
whose conduct has subjected them to the discipline of the
Church, is likely to have most- effect in bringing them to
genuine contrition and godly sorrow for sin. Even this,
when possessed and exercised with comparative perfection,
will not always secure the desired result. The most faithfiil
and spiritually-minded pastors may lay their accoimt to not
a few dealings with offenders who, whatever temporary effect
may have been wrought upon them, will give afterwards
unmistakeable evidence that they have undergone no real

THE ADMINISTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 34I

conversion. Here also, and very peculiarly, the maxim
of our Lord applies, * The tree is known by its fruits;' for
while there is much in the condition of those whose im-
moral conduct has brought them into reproach and laid
them open to the censure of the Church, to produce a soft-
ened and penitent feeling for the time ; if it is nature only
that works, the recoil of feeling may pass away, and leave
the individual as far as ever from the kingdom of God.

The remaining part of the process has reference to what
is called the satisfaction of the Church and the formal
absolution of the offending parties, or their restoration to
Church privileges. This is now usually a very brief and
perfunctory thing compared with what it was in the earlier
periods of the Reformed Church, and still more in the
strict disciplinary period of the first centuries. When one
reads the accounts given in C)^rian and TertuUian, for
example, of the penitential acts and humiliating services
through which the subjects of Church discipline had to pass
in their day before they could expect to have» their names
restored to the commimion-roll of the Church, one is apt to
be struck with the laxity of present times, and to sigh for
the return of such moral strength to spiritual authorities as
might enable them to exact from the lapsed demonstrations
of sorrow and shame so profoundly indicative of their con-
scious guilt, and expressions of desire so intense of bdng
re-admitted to a place among the faithful. In describing
what was termed the exomologesis of the penitent, TertuUian
represents them as appearing clothed in the meanest ap-
parel, lying in sackcloth and ashes ;^ either fasting entirely
or living upon bread and water, passing whole days and
nights in tears and lamentations ; embracing the knees of
the presbyters as they entered the church, and entreating
the more honoured brethren to intercede for them ; all this
continuing often for a lengthened period, for years some-

1 De Potnit, % 9.

342 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

times, occasionally even to the point of death ; when, the
rulers of the Church being satisfied that the repentance was
sincere, and that the honour of the Church had been suffi-
ciently vindicated in their contrition, absolution was granted
to them, and they received again the right hand of fellow-
ship. But then, as already noticed, this awful stringency,
which at first sight carries such an aspect of holiness, at the
same time that it tried by vast applications to heal existing
sores, was itself indicative of a deep disease; it at once
sprung from and fostered a disposition to look to bodily
mortifications and self-inflicted penances for what could
only be reached through the mercy of God and Christ's
work of reconciliation. Hence we find Tertullian speaking
of the penances in question as * mitigating God,' and * blot-
ting out eternal punishments;' and Cyprian, in like. manner,
who equally lauds the virtue of such disciplinary treatment,
describes the penitent who submits to it as not only satisfy-
ing the Church, but appeasing the wrath of God ; by means
of his prayers, it is said, his tears, groans and mortifications,
* he makes satisfaction to God,' ^ * he purchases both God's
pardon now, and also a crown of glory.' Thus readily do
such external requirements and enforced mortifications rise
into a kind of meritorious round of performances, and take
to some extent the place of the one glorious object of faith
and hope. For the lapsed it came practically to be salva-
tion, remotely no doubt through the redeeming grace of God
in Christ, but directly through the rigid observances of a
prolonged discipline, the intercessions of a mediating priest-
hood, and the authoritative absolution of the ChurcL And
we may well be content to want such awfiil pomp and
circumstance in connection with the recovery of fallen
members, in order to escape firom the deadly errors out of
which it in a great degree sprang, and to which it in turn
most powerfully ministered.

* De Lapsis.

THE ADMINISTRATION OF DISCIPLINE. 343

Still It IS possible here, as in other things, while shunning
excess in one direction, to be guilty of it in another. And
one can readily apprehend, when no marked difference of
outward treatment appears between those who have fallen
into scandalous sin and such as have maintained a con-
sistent Christian behaviour, when, even though some pains
may be taken privately to bring them to a better mind, the
path of admission to the more distinctive privileges of the
Church is left equally open to them as to others, the inevi-
table result must be a lowering, in die general sense of the
community, of the estimate formed of their misdemeanour.
So far as overt acts are concerned, no account seems to be
made of it by those who have the charge of God's house ;
how natural, then, for others to treat similar transgressions
lightly, or, if more seriously inclined, to take oflfence at the
seeming indifference of their spiritual guides ! Yet, as
matters now stand, it is not quite easy to adopt a procedure
that shall present very broad and cognizable distinctions ;
it is only within narrow limits that they can be found. In
post-Reformation times the practice of public confessions
and rebukes, closed with a formal absolution and a charge
to go and sin no more, was set up as a regular part of the
discipline of the Kirk in this country, and continued to
prevail for several generations.^ In most churches there
was even what bore the name of the * repentance-stool,*
placed nearly in front of the pulpit, on which the offending
person was obliged to sit for two or three successive Sundays,
and to rise up a little before the close of the service and
receive solemn admonition and rebuke in the presence of

1 * The extremitie of sackclothe was also prescrivt be the acts of the
generall discipline,* and was not to be dispensed with for any *pecunial
sum* (Book of Universal Kirk), Nor was any exemption allowed to
persons in high life. Among those who made public satisfaction we
find the Lord Treasurer in 1563 ; the Countess of Argyll in 1567 ; in
1568 the Bishop of Orkney (M'Crie'? Life of Knox, p. 454).

344 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

the congregation ; on the last, a formal absolution was pro-
nounced. But as times changed, the practice first became
irregular in its administration, and then fell into desuetude.
Fines in many places were taken as a substitute, the money
so obtained being forfeited to the poor, which could only
be characterized as a species of simony ; and as it would, of
course, be chiefly taken advantage of by the richer portion
of the congregation, it was attended with the additional evil
of forming one kind of discipline for the wealthier and
another for the poorer classes of the Church. This was to
do the work of (jod with respect of persons, therefore doing
it so as certainly to defeat the ends which it should have
been mainly directed to promote. Such a halting procedure
could not last ; and as the spirit of the times changed, the
repentance-stool for the one class and the money fines for
the other were disused; public rebukes, also, in great
measure disappeared; while acts of formal excommrmication
and acts of absolution ceased to be delivered fi:om the pulpit
in presence of the assembled congregation.

Is this change to be regretted? It is not quite easy to
say ; indeed, it turns very much upon the further question,
whether the general state and tone of society now be upon
the whole more favourable, or the reverse, to vital godliness,
tha^ they were in earlier and ruder times ? Without debat-
ing the point as to the absolute merits of the two, there can
be no doubt that in the conventionalisms and proprieties of
life there is a decided change for the better in that part of the
population which constitutes the life and stay of Christian
society; so that, as in familiar discourse and in current
literature, in the formal proceedings also of a Church, things
would appear unseemly and indelicate in present times,
would grate upon people's feelings, and tend rather to annoy
than to edify, which at an earher period would have been
heard or witnessed without emotion. It is impossible to
deny, and hopeless to fight with success against, this altered

"^

THE ADMINISTRATION, OF DISCIPLINE. 345

style of things ; it is an essential part of the civilisation and
refinement of modem times ; and it is the policy of the
Church to accommodate her procedure to it, retaining as
far as possible the substance, while she lets go the form of
the older discipline. The form is, for the most part, gone
anyhow ; public professions of repentance and rebukes are
no longer practicable as in the olden time ; and in the few
cases where I have known a return to them attempted,
under a zealous pastorate, the attempt has always failed, and
it was found necessary, for the interests of righteousness
themselves, to have them abandoned. But if matters be
otherwise rightly ordered, especially if those ■ who have the
spiritual oversight of a particular Church be men of principle,
discretion, and probity, and enjoy the respect and confidence
of the members, the real objects in view may be substantially
served through their instrumentality. As represienting the
spiritual community, let them, in their more private inter-
course with the parties interested, do what was wont to be
done in public, so far as reproof, admonition, confession of
sin, promise of amendment, suspension from Church fellow-
ship, restoration or final excision are concerned. What is
done thus is really done by the Church, and, one may say,
in its presence ; just as what is done by the representative
body of a commonwealth is done by the commonwealth
itself, and is so regarded by its constituent elements. And
if it is done conscientiously, prayerfully, judiciously, it will
also be done to edification, more so a great deal than by a
rigid adherence to the letter and form of proceedings which
may be no longer adapted to the state and temper of society,
and which, for the sake of an apparent conformity to Scripture
precedent, would sacrifice the reality.

346 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

CHAPTER IX.

SUBSIDIARY MEANS AND AGENCIES.

BY subsidiary means and agencies, I mean things not
directly and strictly belonging to the pastoral office,
but still so closely connected with it, that in most cases it
will be both the interest and the duty of the pastor to
encourage and promote their employment For, aiming as
they do at the reformation of existing abuses, or the bring-
ing about of a more healthfid state of society, they so far
tend to subserve the objects which a minister of the gospel
should have in view, and become handmaids to him in his
work. They will, however, necessarily differ to some extent
according to the nature of the locality in which his sphere
of labour is cast, and the classes of society with which it
brings him more especially into contact. Experience here,
as in various other things which have come under our con-
sideration, must be the great teacher and guide; and nothing
more is needed, or would be proper in this outline, than
to indicate quite briefly some of the leading points to which
attention should be given. They fall into two divisions,
those which have an incidental bearing on religion, and those
which relate to social economics.

I. Under the first class may be mentioned efforts to pro-
mote a taste for religious and instructive reading. When
such a taste is diffused, both itself and the habits associated
with it prove among the best auxiliaries of the pulpit For,
if those who frequent the house of God are in any measure

SUBSIDIARY MEANS AND AGENCIES. 347

accustomed to the quiet and thoughtful occupation of the
kind referred to, they will grow in intelligence, in their
capacity for appreciating the discourses of the Sabbath, and
also in their ability to profit by them. A certain dulness of
apprehension, sluggishness of spirit, and consequent indispo-
sition or incapacity to follow the train of thought in a well-
digested discourse, are the usual characteristics of audiences
which are utter or comparative strangers to reading of a
cognate description during the week. And with such
audiences the danger is, that when serious impressions are
made upon them by what is addressed to them on the
Lord's day, these are apt to disappear again by the total
withdrawal of the mind from similar lines of meditation
during the week.

To some small extent the object in view may be attained
by the circulation of tracts but not very materially. These
are more suited, as a whole, for originating right thought,
and leading people's minds into the way of truth, than for
imparting much knowledge, or forming habits of thought-
fulness and attention. When judiciously selected, however,
they have their use, and even in the way of directing and
sustaining thought will sometimes profitably fill up a little
spare time which would otherwise run to waste. But better
adapted for the purpose more immediately contemplated
are the monthly or weekly periodicals which are now issued
in considerable variety, with special reference to private
and family use on the Lord's day. Though not to be indis-
criminately recommended, as if all were equally adapted to
promote their professed object, some of them are worthy of
all praise. The stated circulation of such productions, and
missionary records, containing accounts of evangelistic opera-
tions at home and abroad, is well deserving of attention.
Associations might, at various localities, be with advantage
formed for carrying it the more easily into effect ; and for
the more remote and isolated rural districts much may be

348 THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

done to promote the end in view by a judicious encourage-
ment of the colportage system.

Sabbath-school, and, where possible, congregational libra-
ries, belong also to this line of things, and should receive
the considerate attention, and, when formed, the watchful
superintendence of the pastor. It is one of the special
advantages of present times, that books' for the young exist
in such numbers and variety. There is now a pretty exten-
sive literature conducted expressly for them, and a literature
predominantly religious in its tone, as also in the subjects
of which it formally treats. Every pastor should use his
influence with the young of his flock to induce them to form
some acquaintance with this juvenile literature, which will
also react on the older members of the family. In rural
situations it may sometimes be needful, or at least expedient,
for him to take the charge of such libraries, as otherwise
there may be a danger of the books being badly kept, and
the youthful applicants also may be apt to light upon
books of a somewhat unsuitable kind. When the young
grow up and join themselves to the commimion of the
Church, it may be well, if their numbers are not very great,
to present each with a good practical treatise suited to their
respective capacities, a treatise or manual of the kind of
which Doddridge's Rise and Progress may be cited as a favour-
able example ; such a gift being fitted at once to form a
pleasing memorial of that important period in their religious
history, and also to exercise an influence for good on their
further advancement

I am quite disposed to reckon among the subsidiary
means imder consideration the practice which has of late
become common in towns, and has been extending to
villages, of lectures on week-day evenings, lectures perhaps
sometimes having a 'directly religious interest, but more
commonly on subjects of a historical, literary, or scientific
nature, treated in a manner fitted to improve and elevate

SUBSIDIARY MEANS AND AGENCIES. 349

the minds of the people, as well as strengthen indirectly
their religious convictions. Such lectures must be delivered
chiefly by ministers of the gospel, though with occasional
help from others ; and the time and study necessary to take
their part occasionally in such emplo)rment will be far from
being misspent. But more directly bearing on their proper
fimction is the promotion of prayer meetings among their
people, and some perhaps would add, of fellowship meetings.
But in regard to the latter, there is need for much caution
on the part of a pastor. Fellowship meetings are formed
with a view, not merely to engage in exercises of worship,
but also to interchange thoughts among the members on
matters pertaining to divine truth or religious experience ;
safe enough, probably, and improving if the membership is
small, and composed of such as have much confidence and
fellow-feeling one with another, so that they can really speak
heart to heart ; but when it is otherwise, they are extremely
apt to become loquacious, disputative, and even to gender
strifes. A prudent pastor will therefore rarely intermeddle
with meetings of this description, and neither directly en-
courage nor discountenance them. But in respect to the
establishment of prayer meetings he need have no scruple, if
he can only find persons who have the requisite zeal and gifts
for conducting them. Here for the most part lies the main
difficulty, and it is of such a kind that no imdue pressure
should be made upon individuals with the view of over-
coming it ; for if there be a defect in the requisite intelli-
gence, piety, or power of utterance, the meetings in question
cannot be instituted with much prospect of continuance or
success. The spirit of prayer, it should ever be remem-
bered, is of more importance than any particular mode of
exercising it.

2. Passing now to the other branch of subsidiary means,
that relating to social economics, a pretty large field till
lately lay open here for parish ministers in connection with

3 so THE OFFICE AND DUTIES OF A CHRISTIAN PASTOR.

the management of the poor, calling for the exercise of
discretion, sagacity, and good feeling. It was in this field
that Dr. Chalmers won for himself his first claim to distinc-
tion as a philanthropist; and to the discussion of topics
connected with it one of his most elaborate works is devoted,
his Parish Economics, The work may still be read with
interest and profit, as it is pregnant with views and prin-
ciples which admit of a certain application in every age ; but
as a guide-book for pastors in a specific department of
official duty it may justly be said to be antiquated. This
whole branch of social economics is now directed by an
agency of its own, in which ministers of the gospel, whether
of the Established Church or not, have but a subordinate
part to perform. But, of course, it will never cease to be
their duty to interest themselves in the state of the poor,
and to be forward in devising liberal things in those more
peculiar cases of want and distress which from time to time
occur, and for which a legal machinery afibr(fs no adequate
source of relief.

In the present circumstances of our country, it belongs
more to the province of a minister of the gospel to concert,
or lend his countenance and support to those who may be
concerting, measures which have for their object the reduc-
tion of pauperism and other social evils ; in particular, the
repression of prostitution, and the diminution of that intem-
perance which is a fountain of innumerable disorders. For
this purpose he will readily co-operate in the efforts made
to curtail, in particular localities, the number of public-
houses, to establish coff'ee-rooms and places of healthfiil
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SUBSIDIARY MEANS AND AGENCIES. 35 1

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Observer,

* The book is written with a distinct aim of a most important kind, viz. to
give to intelligent laymen a fair and full idea of the present state of the never-
ending controversy between doubt and Christian faith. . . . The lectures
are, in animation, in clearness, in skilful grouping of topics, in occasional and
always appropri^ite eloquence, worthy of the author's reputation as one of the
most eloquent preachers of the day.' — British and Foreign Evangelical Review,

^ These lectures are indeed an armoury of weapons — arms of precision every
one. We have the very highest admiration for them, and recommend them
warmly to our readers.' — Literary Churchman,

'Compact, firm, clear, logical, and symmetrical, may all be said of it; and it
is exhibited to the English reader in a translation possessing peculiar advan-
tages, making it almost an original work.' — Church Bells,

' We do not hesitate to describe this as the clearest, strongest, and soundest
volume of apologetics from a Grerman pen we have read. The author takes
hold of the great central and critical points and principles, and handles them
with extraordinary vigour and wisdom.' — Watchman,

*■ It is one of the best works on Christian Evidences as a modem question to
be found in any language.'— i^reeman.